RESOLVING POWER OF A TELESCOPE

 

Principle and Working :
Resolving power of a telescope is defined as the reciprocal of the smallest angle subtended at the objective lens of the telescope by two point objects which can be just distinguished as separate.
Resolving power of telescope is given by :

Resolving Power = D/d = a / 1.22 λ

Where, λ = 589 nm mean wavelength of light used
D = is distance of the objects from objective of the telescope.
d - is distance between two consecutive slits or objects
a - is critical width of the rectangular slit for just resolution of two slits or objects.

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