Characteristics

Design specifications relate to the characteristics of the telescope and how it performs optically. Several properties of the
specifications may change with the equipment or accessories used with the telescope; such as,Barlow lenses and star diagnols and
eyepieces. These interchangeable accessories don’t alter the specifications of the telescope,however they alter the way the
telescopes properties function,typically magnification,angular resolution and FOV

Surface resolvability

The smallest resolable surface area of an object, as seen through an optical telescope is the limited physical area that can be
resolved. It is analogous to angular resolution , but differs in definition;instead of separation ability between point light sources it
refers to the physical area that can be resolved. A familiar way to express the characteristic is the resolvable ability of features such
as moon craters or sun spots. Expression using the formula is given by the sum of twice the resolving power r over aperture
diameter d multiplied by the objects diameter dob multiplied by the constant phi all divided by the objects apparent diameter da.

Resolving power r is derived from the wavelength using the same unit as aperture, where 550 nm to mm is given by:
R=550/10 power -6=0.00055
The constant phi is derived from radians to the same unit as the objects apparent diameter.

The unit used n the object diameter results in the smallest resolvable features at that unit . in the above example they are
approximated in kilometers resulting in the smallest resolvable moon craters being 3.22 km in diameter. The hubble space telescope
has a primary mirror aperture of 2400 mm that provides a surface resolvability of moon craters being 174.9 meters in diameter, or
sunspots of 7365.2 km in diameter.

Angular resolution

Ignoring blurring of the image by turbulence in the atmosphere (atmospheric seeing) and optical imperfections of the telescope , the
angular resolution of an optical telescope is determined by the diameter of the primary mirror or lens gathering the light also termed
its aperture.
The Rayleigh criterion for the resolution limit (in radians), is given by sin=1.22/d where is the wavelength and
is the aperture. For visible light = 550 nm) in the approximation,this equation can be rewritten. In the ideal case, the two
components of a double star system can be d i s c e r n e d e v e n i f s e p a r a t e d b y s l i g h t l y l e s s t h a n . T h i s i s t a k e n i n t o
a c c o u n t by the Dawes limit.The equation shows that, all else being equal, the larger the aperture, thebetter the angular resolution.
The resolution is not given by the maximum magnification (or “power”) of a telescope. Telescopes marketed by giving high values of
the maximum power often deliver poor images.For large ground-based telescopes, the resolution is limited by atmospheric seeing.
This limit can be overcome by placing the telescopes above theatmosphere, e.g., on the summits of high mountains, on balloon and
high-flying airplanes, or in space. Resolution limits can also be overcome by adaptive optics,speckle imaging or lucky imaging for
ground-based telescopes.Recently, it has become practical to perform aperture synthesis with arrays of optical telescopes. Very
high resolution images can be obtained with groups of widely spaced smaller telescopes, linked together by carefully controll
edoptical paths, but these interferometers can only be used for imaging bright objects such as stars or measuring the bright cores of
active galaxies.

Focal length and focal ratio

Numerically large focal ratios are said to belong or slow Small numbers are short or fast There are no sharp lines for determining
when to use these terms, an individual may consider their own standards of determination. Among contemporary astronomical
telescopes, any telescope with a focal ratio slower (bigger number) than f/12 is generally considered slow, and any telescope with a
focal ratio faster (smaller number) than f/6, is considered fast.Faster systems often have more optical aberration away from the
center of the field of view and are generally more demanding of eyepiece designs than slower ones. A fast system is often desired
for practical purposesin astrophotography with the purpose of gathering more photons in a given time period than a slower system,
allowing time lapsed photography to process the result faster.Wide-field telescopes (such as astrographs), are used to track
satellites and asteroids, for cosmic ray research, and for astronomical surveys of the sky. It is more difficult to reduce
aberrations in telescopes with low f-ratio than in telescopes with larger f-ratio

Light gathering power

The light-gathering power of an optical telescope, also referred to as light grasp or aperture gain, is the ability of a telescope to
collect a lot more light than the human eye. Its light-gathering power is probably its most important feature. The telescope acts as a
light bucket, collecting all of the photons that come down on it from a far away object, where a larger bucket catches more
photons resulting in more received light in a given time period, effectively brightening the image. This is why the pupils of your eyes
enlarge at night so that more light reaches the retinas. The gathering power P compared against a human eye is the squared result
of the division of the aperture D over the observer’s pupil diameter Dp with an average adult having a pupil diameter of 7mm.
Younger persons host larger diameters, typically said to be 9mm, as the diameter of the pupil decreases with age. An example
gathering power of an aperture with 254mm compared to an adult pupil diameter being 7mm is given by:Light-gathering power can
be compared between telescopes by comparing the areas of the two different apertures. As an example, the light-gathering power
of a 10meter telescope is 25x that of a 2meter telescope. For a survey of a given area, the field of view is just as important as raw
light gathering power. Survey telescopes such as the large synoptic survey telescope try to maximize the product of mirror area and
field of view (or etendue) rather than raw light gathering ability alone.

Field of view
Field of view is the extent of the observable world seen at any givenmoment, through an instrument (e.g.,telescope or binoculars), or by naked
eye. There are various expressions of field of view, being a specification of an eyepiece or a characteristic determined from and eyepiece and
telescope combination. A physical limit derives from the combination where the FOV cannot be viewed larger than a defined maximum, due to
diffraction of the optics.
Apparent
Apparent FOV is the observable world observed through anocular eyepiece without insertion into a telescope. It is limited by the barrelsize used
in a telescope, generally with modern telescopes that being either1.25 or 2 inches in diameter. A wider FOV may be used to achieve a morevast
observable world given the same magnification compared with a smaller FOV without compromise to magnification. Note that increasing the
FOV lowers surface brightness of an observed object, as the gathered light is spread over more area, in relative terms increasing the observing
area proportionally lowers surface brightness dimming the observed object.Wide FOV eyepieces work best at low magnifications with large
apertures,where the relative size of an object is viewed at higher comparative standards with minimal magnification giving an overall brighter
image to begin with.
True
True FOV is the observable world observed though anocular eyepiece inserted into a telescope. Knowing the true FOV of eyepiece is very useful
since it can be used to compare whatis seen through the eyepiece to printed or computerized star chart that help identify what is observed.True
FOV is the division of apparent FOV over magnification. An example of true FOV using an eyepiece with 52° apparent FOV used at 81.25x
magnification is given by
Vt=va/m=52/1.25=0.64

Maximum
Max FOV is a term used to describe the maximum useful true FOV limited by the optics of the telescope, it is a physical limitation where
increases beyond the maximum remain at maximum. Max FOV is the barrel size over the telescopes focal length converted from radian to
degrees. An example of max FOV using a telescope with a barrel size of 31.75mm (1.25inches) and focal length of 1200mm is given by
Vm=b*180/f=31.75*57.2985/1200=1.52