Abstract

Since the atmosphere is an inhomogeneous refractive medium, images formed with light which has passed through the atmosphere in general exhibit color aberrations. For example, at sea level the atmospheric dispersion separates the red (λ_R = 7000 Å) and the blue (λ_B = 4000 Å) images of a star at a zenith angle of 45° by approximately 1.4^″.

This paper shows that by considering as a single problem the refraction of the atmosphere and the color aberrations of the telescope optics, it is possible to devise a telescope which almost completely compensates for the lateral color aberration arising from atmospheric refraction. In particular it is shown that for an objective consisting of BSC-2 glass the lateral color aberration at the final focus produced by the atmosphere is reduced by a factor Γ, where Γ = 0.006 ± 0.002 for a bandwidth from 3650 to 5876 Å, and Γ = 0.010 ± 0.002 for a bandwidth from 3650 to 6563 Å. For an objective consisting of a flint glass, Γ = 0.012 ± 0.002 for a bandwidth from 4047 to 10140 Å.

© 1966 Optical Society of America

Dependence of Image Quality on Horizontal Range in a Turbulent Atmosphere

C. E. Coulman
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 56(9) 1232-1238 (1966)

Limiting Resolution Looking Down Through the Atmosphere

D. L. Fried
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 56(10) 1380-1384 (1966)

Correction of Lens Aberrations by Means of Holograms

J. Upatnieks, A. Vander Lugt, and E. Leith
Appl. Opt. 5(4) 589-593 (1966)

Velocity Aberration and Atmospheric Refraction in Satellite Laser Communication Experiments

L. J. Nugent and R. J. Condon
Appl. Opt. 5(11) 1832-1837 (1966)

Optical Interferometry of Inhomogeneous Gases

Walton L. Howes and Donald R. Buchele
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 56(11) 1517-1528 (1966)