The VLBA (Very Long Baseline Array) uses a number of individual radio telescopes to make one unit having an equivalent diameter of about 8000 km. When this radio telescope is focusing radio waves of wavelength 2.0 cm, what would have to be the diameter of the mirror of a visible-light telescope focusing light of wavelength 550 nm so that the visible-light telescope has the same resolution as the radio telescope?
The VLBA (Very Long Baseline Array) uses a number of individual radio telescopes to make one unit having an equivalent diameter of about 8000 km. When this radio telescope is focusing radio waves of wavelength 2.0 cm, what would have to be the diameter of the mirror of a visible-light telescope focusing light of wavelength 550 nm so that the visible-light telescope has the same resolution as the radio telescope?
The VLBA (Very Long Baseline Array) uses a number of individual radio telescopes to make one unit having an equivalent diameter of about 8000 km. When this radio telescope is focusing radio waves of wavelength 2.0 cm, what would have to be the diameter of the mirror of a visible-light telescope focusing light of wavelength 550 nm so that the visible-light telescope has the same resolution as the radio telescope?
The FAST radio telescope in China is currently the largest in the world, with a diameter of 500 meters. It is able to detect radio waves across a wide spectrum, but let's
assume it is "tuned" to a frequency of 1 Giga-Hertz (10°cycles per second). What is the angular resolution limit of the FAST telescope at this frequency?
A telescope has a circular aperture of diameter D = 4.4 m. A light with wavelength λ = 690 nm travels through the telescope.
Express the limiting angle of resolution, θmin, in terms of λ and D. You may assume that θmin is very small.
θmin =
Radio waves have wavelengths that are typically many centimeters, or even meters. Radio telescopes also tend to have diameters that are much larger than optical telescopes. They are sometimes 25, 50, even 100 m in diameter. In fact, the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico is about 300 m in diameter. How does the resolution of the Arecibo telescope observing radio waves of wavelength 10 cm compare to that of a 1-m diameter optical telescope observing in green light with a wavelength of 500 nm? Explain why radio telescopes are so large.
Chapter 36 Solutions
University Physics with Modern Physics, Volume 1 (Chs. 1-20) (14th Edition)
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