Chapter 5 Flashcards

1
Q

What is collecting power in a telescope

A

It is how big a telescope is and how much light it collects

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2
Q

What is focusing power in a telescope

A

It is how it uses its mirrors and lenses to bend the path of light and create images

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3
Q

What is resolving power in a telescope

A

It is how clear the image is and how many details show

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4
Q

How does the size of the telescope affect the image

A

The size is directly proportional to the light collected, more light collected means a brighter image is shown.

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5
Q

What two methods does focusing power use

A

Refraction and reflection

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6
Q

What is refraction

A

It is the bending of light due to it shifting between one medium to another and changing speed

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7
Q

What telescopes are called refractors

A

Ones that use lenses to collect and focus light

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8
Q

What are disadvantages of refractors

A

Large lenses are extremely expensive, a large lens is only supported in the middle and will sag, dispersion causes images to have colored fringes, many lens materials absorb short-wavelength light

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9
Q

What are reflecting telescopes

A

What astronomers mainly use today, are telescopes that use mirrors to focus the light

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10
Q

How do reflecting mirrors work

A

A secondary mirror may be used to deflect the light through a hole in the primary mirror and focus the light

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11
Q

How do astronomers deal with large mirrors in reflecting telescopes

A

They developed multi-mirror instruments and extremely thin mirrors

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12
Q

What are the 3 styles of reflectors

A

Prime focus, cassegrain focus, and Newtonian focus

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13
Q

How does a prime focus reflector work

A

Light comes in and bounces off the primary mirror into a mounted camera hanging in the middle of the telescope

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14
Q

How does a cassegrain focus reflector work

A

Light comes in and bounces off the primary mirror, and then bounces off again off of a hanging secondary mirror in the middle back to the observer

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15
Q

How does a Newtonian reflector work

A

Light comes in and bounces off the primary mirror, it then hits a diagonal hanging mirror in the middle and into the observers eyes

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16
Q

What is diffraction

A

It is when waves pass through a narrow opening

17
Q

How does diffraction affect how we see an object

A

A diffracted point source of light appears as a point surrounded by rings of light. EX: the sun

18
Q

What is resolving power and what limits it

A

Resolving power is the ability for a telescope to gather detail, it is limited by the wave nature of light and its diffraction

19
Q

How can resolution be increased

A

It can be increased by a larger telescope diameter

20
Q

How can a larger resolution diameter be achieved

A

By the use of an interferometer which simultaneously combines the observations from two or more widely spaced telescopes

21
Q

What are the 3 ways of detecting light

A

The human eye, photographic film, electronic detectors

22
Q

What is photographic film

A

It chemically stores data to increase sensitivity to dim light. Very inefficient as only 4% of photons are recorded

23
Q

What are electronic detectors

A

Incoming photons strike an array of semiconductor pixels that are connected to a computer. Efficiencies of 75% possible

24
Q

What are the non visible wavelengths and what emits them

A

Cold gas= emits radio, dust clouds= emit infrared, hot gases= x-rays

25
What are false color images
They are images typically used to depict wavelengths and distributions in non visible observations
26
What are advantages of space based telescopes
Freedom from atmospheric blurring , freedom from atmospheric absorption
27
What are advantages from ground bass telescopes
Larger collecting power, can be easily fixed
28
What is scintillation (twinkling)
It is the refraction of light from stars, it can be caused by temperature and density in pockets of air that are constantly shifting
29
What can improve distorted seeing for telescopes
Adaptive optics that employ a powerful laser correcting scintillation
30
How do computers help telescopes gather data
Solve equations, move telescopes and feed information to detectors, convert data into useful form, creates networks for communication and data exchange