i am doing an assessment in which i have to calculate errors. If a manufacturer gives the focal length of the eyepiece, what is a reasonable estimate of the inaccuracy?
would it be reasonable to expect a +/- 0.5 millimeter inaccuracy on an eyepiece that i have been told has a focal length of 7mm?
i am unsure of this though, as i am aware they can be very carefully manufactured.
so does anybody know what a sensible estimate would be?
thanks.
2007-12-13 08:57:02 · 2 answers · asked by fpa06mr 5 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Many (but not all) eyepiece focal lengths are rounded to the nearest integer value. So it's probably reasonable to expect that kind of potential difference. However, the difference should be consistent across all eyepieces of the same model. How much of a difference there may be between eyepieces of the same model is likely very low, because as you said they use pretty tight tolerances.
2007-12-13 09:04:41 · answer #1 · answered by Arkalius 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi. I think that with optics an error of +/- 0.5 millimeter IN THE FOCAL LENGTH would be reasonable. Not in the optical figure of course (well, except for the Hubble before the fix). There are other mechanical tolerances that would effect the focal plane location, but that's why we have focus mechanisms!
2007-12-17 12:28:40 · answer #2 · answered by Cirric 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋