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Anonymous
>>116316 not as much as you would think.
from "An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics" by Carrol and Ostlie (my textbook for this quarter)
"Unfortunatly, despite the implications of Eq[uation] 6.6, the resolution of ground based telescopes does not improve without limit as the size of the primary lens or mirror is increased unless certain complex, real-time adjustments are made to the optical system...some of the best seeing conditions found anywhere in the world are at mauna kea observatories in Hawaii, located 4200m (13,800 ft.) above sea level where resolution is between .5" and.6" approximately 50% of the time, improving to .25" on the best nights"
equation 6.6: (theta)min = (1.22)(lambda/D)
plugging in 500 nm for lambda (visable red light), and .5" --> .000 002 4 radians, we get
D=(500x10^-9)((1.22)/(.000 002 4))=~.25 meters =~9.8 inches for the other americans here
so there you go. because of the atmosphere, your 10 inch telescope has as good resolution as a government multimillion dollar telescope on a prime observing location about 50% of the time. mind you, you won't collect as much light, and things like dirt, light pollution, etc will throw you off, but in theory with a long exposure, a good CCD camera, and a good tracking system, you can take near-profession photographs with ameture equipment.
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