Which of the following pairings of telescope diameter and observational wavelength would give the best resolution images of an object with a telescope? Explain why you chose the telescope and wavelength combination you did, and calculate the angular resolution you could achieve with it. It would be best to observe with... Option 1: a 10 m diameter optical telescope on the ground with λ= 550 nm Option 2: a 2.4 m diameter optical telescope in space with λ=500 nm Option 3: a 100 m radio telescope on the ground with λ=100 cm
Which of the following pairings of telescope diameter and observational wavelength would give the best resolution images of an object with a telescope? Explain why you chose the telescope and wavelength combination you did, and calculate the angular resolution you could achieve with it.
It would be best to observe with...
Option 1: a 10 m diameter optical telescope on the ground with λ= 550 nm
Option 2: a 2.4 m diameter optical telescope in space with λ=500 nm
Option 3: a 100 m radio telescope on the ground with λ=100 cm
The resolving power of a telescope is given by,
where is the angular resolution of the telescope, is the diameter of the telescope and is the observational wavelength.
Resolving power is proportional to the diameter of the telescope and inversely proportional to the observational wavelength.
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