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RE: Astronomical Imaging - The Basics - 4

in #steemstem7 years ago

I've only ever used homemade ones, but most of the time if I want really good focus I will use the FWHM method on a star. But the Baht masks are revelation if you've only ever done by eye focusing - just line up the crosshairs!

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It's very interesting that you use FWHM - I've seen that exact concept come up a lot in several physics courses, but always about oscillations or electrical filters (Q-factor basically). Funny how stuff like that comes up in seemingly disparate fields. But minimizing the FWHM for a telescope would be analogous to increasing the Q-factor for a RC filter, which is optimal and gets a "sharper" peak - which for a telescope would put the object in sharper focus. So I suppose it makes sense!

I checked that out and it definitely is the same concept, even if the profiles are not the same. Good to know!