Try it on paper first. A hint, the key idea and the worked solution are here when you need them.
A small telescope has an aperture of diameter m. It is used with light of wavelength nm. Find the smallest angle between two stars that it can resolve, in microradian and in arcseconds. Take one arcsecond as . Find also the diameter of the aperture that is needed to resolve arcsecond.
The Rayleigh limit of a circular aperture is . A microscope resolves . A grating has the resolving power .
Have you tried it?
Work it out on paper first. It is fine to get stuck or make a mistake: that is how we learn. When you are ready, go through the solution one step at a time, and check each step against your own.
Step 1. The angle. .
Step 2. In arcseconds. arcseconds.
Step 3. The new aperture. arcsecond is . We want , so .
Answer: ; arcseconds; m.
Check. The small telescope reaches about arcsecond. To get ten times finer, the aperture must be ten times larger, m, and the formula gives m. These agree to the accuracy of the rounding of the arcsecond.
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