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Optical science is relevant to and studied in many related disciplines including astronomy, various engineering fields, photography, and medicine (particularly ophthalmology and optometry, in which it is called physiological optics).
Historically, optical astronomy, which has been also called visible light astronomy, is the oldest form of astronomy. [58] Images of observations were originally drawn by hand. In the late 19th century and most of the 20th century, images were made using photographic equipment.
An optical telescope is a telescope that gathers and focuses light mainly from the ... In astronomy, the f-number is ... Physics dictates that at the theoretical ...
Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. [1] [2] As one of the founders of the discipline, James Keeler, said, astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the nature of the heavenly bodies, rather than their positions or motions in space—what they are, rather than where they are", [3] which is studied ...
The key instrument of nearly all modern observational astronomy is the telescope. This serves the dual purposes of gathering more light so that very faint objects can be observed, and magnifying the image so that small and distant objects can be observed. Optical astronomy requires telescopes that use optical components of great precision.
Later, the connection between atomic physics and optical physics became apparent, by the discovery of spectral lines and attempts to describe the phenomenon - notably by Joseph von Fraunhofer, Fresnel, and others in the 19th century. [14] From that time to the 1920s, physicists were seeking to explain atomic spectra and blackbody radiation.
However, there is also a specific, quantitative definition of "opacity", used in astronomy, plasma physics, and other fields, given here. In this use, "opacity" is another term for the mass attenuation coefficient (or, depending on context, mass absorption coefficient , the difference is described here ) κ ν {\displaystyle \kappa _{\nu }} at ...
Optical phenomena are any observable events that result from the interaction of light and matter. All optical phenomena coincide with quantum phenomena. [ 1 ] Common optical phenomena are often due to the interaction of light from the Sun or Moon with the atmosphere, clouds, water, dust, and other particulates.