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Refractor
Should See telescopes. Perfect Focus
In perfect optics, the converging and
Assuming textbook-perfect The star test is administered by examining THE OUT-OF-FOCUS diverging light cones (seen here in
optics, an unobstructed star images at high power, both in focus DIFFRACTION PATTERN profile) contain identical bundles of
telescope such as a 4-inch and out of focus. Surprisingly, the out-of- light rays. Light comes to a sharp and
refractor produces a bright focus images can demonstrate a great deal With the telescope stopped down, slowly certain focus (it snaps to focus).
Airy disk surrounded by a about a telescopes optical quality. rack the star out of focus. Youll see an ex-
faint inner diffraction ring panding pattern of rings emerge. Defocus Imperfect Focus
when in focus on a bright THE IN-FOCUS DIFFRACTION the instrument to the point where four to With spherical aberration, light from
star. Out of focus, the im-
PATTERN six rings show. Except for a fat outer ring, the perimeter of a lens or mirror
ages expand to filled-in the light should be spread more or less uni- does not focus at the same point as
diffraction disks that look At high power, a star looks like a distinct formly among the rings. Now, rack through the light from the optics center. The
identical both inside and spot surrounded by a series of concentric focus to the same place on the other side result is unsymmetrical light cones
outside of focus. rings, with the innermost ring being of focus. The pattern should look identical, and a smeared focal point.
the brightest and most obvious. This is with a uniform distribution of light within
Schmidt-Cassegrain called the diffraction pattern. The spot the diffraction rings. 1. Spherical Aberration
With its larger aperture in the middle is known as the Airy disk. In an unobstructed telescope, such as a The basis of the star test is to look at the pattern of a de-
an 8-inch SCT produces an Any telescope that claims to be diffrac- refractor, the out-of-focus pattern will be focused star, effectively slicing through the light cones
Airy disk half the size of the tion limited must create a good likeness filled in. In an obstructed telescopeany on either side of focus. In the case of spherical aberra-
refractors image but with a of that pattern. Your telescope may not reflector with a secondary mirrorthe out- tion, this pattern can look fuzzy on one side of focus yet
much brighter first diffrac- produce as perfect a bulls-eye as weve of-focus pattern looks more like a doughnut. look tightly defined on the other. In focus (at far left) the
tion ring, an effect of the depicted. Few telescopes do. To see a Examining the appearance of an out-of-fo- diffraction rings look brighter than in perfect optics.
obstructed aperture. The perfect diffraction pattern mask your tele- cus star image (called the extra-focal image
two extra-focal images look scope down to a one-to-two-inch aperture. no matter which way it is defocused) is the 2. On-Axis Astigmatism
more like donuts, though Then focus the telescope on a bright star essence of the star test. Doing so can help If the lens or mirror is ground so that it is not rotation-
still identical. well above the horizon, using a magnifica- diagnose why in-focus images look soft. ally symmetrical, the result is an extra-focal diffraction
disk that might appear elliptical. Its axis flips 90 from
one side of focus to the other. In focus, stars always ap-
4-inch Refractor In Focus 4-inch Refractor Out of Focus pear vaguely cross-like (far left). Optics that are physi-
(highly magnified view) cally pinched can produce a similar effect.
4. Off-Axis Coma
Coma, an inherent aberration of many reflectors, makes stars that are off-center in the field look
8-inch SCT In Focus 8-inch SCT Out of Focus flared to one side. The farther the image is from the center of the field of view, the worse the
(highly magnified view) aberration gets. Coma also becomes more severe in faster optics, with fast f/4 or f/5 Newto-
nians having a much smaller coma-free field than an f/8 instrument. For this reason, precise
collimation of fast Newtonians is critical, or else all images will look fuzzy.
This is the big four of aberrations, representing the main optical flaws backyard astronomers are likely to encounter, usually in
some combination. These and the other star test simulations shown in this Appendix were produced with a free astronomy software
program called Aberrator, produced by Cor Berrevoets and available for Windows computers at http://aberrator.astronomy.net