The Hubble Space Telescope was launched into space in 1990 and now orbits the Earth at 5 mi/sec at a distance of 353 mi above the Earth. From its location in space, the Hubble is free from the distortion of the Earth’s atmosphere, enabling it to return magnificent images from distant stars and galaxies. The quality of the Hubble’s images result from a large parabolic mirror, 2.4 m (7.9 ft) in diameter, that collects light from space. Suppose that a coordinate system is chosen so that the vertex of a cross section through the center of the mirror is located at ( 0 , 0 ) . Furthermore, the focal length is 57.6 m. a. Assume that x and y are measured in meters. Write an equation of the parabolic cross section of the mirror for − 1.2 ≤ x ≤ 1.2 . See figure. b. How thick is the mirror at the edge? That is, what is the y value for x = 1.2 ?
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched into space in 1990 and now orbits the Earth at 5 mi/sec at a distance of 353 mi above the Earth. From its location in space, the Hubble is free from the distortion of the Earth’s atmosphere, enabling it to return magnificent images from distant stars and galaxies. The quality of the Hubble’s images result from a large parabolic mirror, 2.4 m (7.9 ft) in diameter, that collects light from space. Suppose that a coordinate system is chosen so that the vertex of a cross section through the center of the mirror is located at ( 0 , 0 ) . Furthermore, the focal length is 57.6 m. a. Assume that x and y are measured in meters. Write an equation of the parabolic cross section of the mirror for − 1.2 ≤ x ≤ 1.2 . See figure. b. How thick is the mirror at the edge? That is, what is the y value for x = 1.2 ?
Solution Summary: The author calculates the parabolic cross section of the mirror for 2.4m that collects light form space.
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched into space in 1990 and now orbits the Earth at 5 mi/sec at a distance of 353 mi above the Earth. From its location in space, the Hubble is free from the distortion of the Earth’s atmosphere, enabling it to return magnificent images from distant stars and galaxies. The quality of the Hubble’s images result from a large parabolic mirror, 2.4 m (7.9 ft) in diameter, that collects light from space.
Suppose that a coordinate system is chosen so that the vertex of a cross section through the center of the mirror is located at
(
0
,
0
)
. Furthermore, the focal length is 57.6 m.
a. Assume that x and y are measured in meters. Write an equation of the parabolic cross section of the mirror for
−
1.2
≤
x
≤
1.2
. See figure.
b. How thick is the mirror at the edge? That is, what is the y value for
x
=
1.2
?
System that uses coordinates to uniquely determine the position of points. The most common coordinate system is the Cartesian system, where points are given by distance along a horizontal x-axis and vertical y-axis from the origin. A polar coordinate system locates a point by its direction relative to a reference direction and its distance from a given point. In three dimensions, it leads to cylindrical and spherical coordinates.
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