|
| Telescopes and Detectors |
1. The light-gathering power is proportional to the area of the mirror (or pupil). The area is proportional to the square of the diameter or radius. Since the Palomar mirror is 1000 times larger in diameter than the pupil size, the light-gathering power is (1000)2 = 106 or 1 million times greater for the 5 meter mirror compared to the 5 mm human eye.
3. More information about the COBE orbit can be found here.
5. 1420 Mhz
7. The atmosphere limits resolution to about an arc second, so larger ones will not improve resolution very much. The Sun is so bright that there seldom is need for larger telescopes in order to collect more light.