Physics 105 Homework

The Hale Telescope at Mt Palomar near San Diego uses a 200 inch diameter (16.7 feet) parabolic mirror. Its focal length is 55 feet or 17 m and it weighs 15 tons. It was manufactured in 1934 in Corning, NY, not far from here.
HW12

Is it right side up or up side down?  A ripple or two will give you the answer.

At least one person thought it was right side up because of the nice blue sky. Actually it is upside down. If you look closely you can see the trees on the right are distorted from ripples in the water. Mirrors (and the surface of a pond) are amazing. I don't know why the sky appears bluer in the reflection, but perhaps the first question to ask is why the sky appears blue at all. More on that later in the course.

Chub Pond

 

 

 

 

 

The mirror being recoated. This is done about every 24 months.

The telescope in use. The user actually sits in the telescope. The sky is behind the person in the picture. Light goes by him, reflects off the mirror and then focuses at a point in front of him, where normally a camera or other detector is mounted.

 

 

The camera is focused for the flower, so the leaves, which are further away are forming an image in front of the camera's detector.  As a result they are not in focus.

Bee balm
 

 

 

 

Physics 105