Physics of Telescopes Course

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This course goes beyond the simple yet important explanations of the workings of telescopes. We will go deep inside and understand the laws of physics that govern the optics and make telescopes work for us. We will use many equations with examples to actually see these laws making sense to us.

This course will also include practical use of various telescopes’ designs.

You will be able to fully understand the hidden world of photon interaction with telescopes’ optics and you will fully appreciate the Physics involved with this amazing machine, we call a telescope!

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PROGRAM:
– PART ONE – Nature of light
• Physics of Waves
• Physics of Particles

– PART TWO – Fundamentals of Optical Physics
• Science of Refraction
• Science of Reflection

– PART THREE – Earth’s Atmosphere
• Composition & Behavior with light

– PART FOUR – Fundamentals of Optical Imaging
• Science of Optical Imaging
• Ray Optics

– PART FIVE – Fundamentals of Science of Telescopes
• Inner workings of Telescope
• Science of Telescopes’ Optics
• Terminologies & Formulae: Light gathering power, Resolving Power, Magnification, Focal Plane. etc.

– PART SIX – Various Optical Designs
• Goods and Bads of Optical Designs

– PART SEVEN – Detectors
• Engineering of Human Eye
• Photon Detectors
• Signal to Noise Ratio