Bibcode
Bello, C. D.; Devaney, Nicholas; Castro, Javier
Bibliographical reference
Revista Mexicana de Astronomia y Astrofisica, vol. 36, p. 57
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4
2000
Citations
5
Refereed citations
3
Description
The errors associated with a segmented primary mirror limit the image
quality obtainable with those astronomical telescopes which employ them.
It is necessary to derive the effects of segmentation errors on image
quality in order to determine realistic error budgets for such
telescopes. The main segmentation errors are misalignment and piston of
the segments as well as figure errors. Here, the effect of segmentation
on image quality is studied analytically by considering a two-ring
telescope. Approximate expressions for the MTF and CIR (Central
Intensity Ratio) are derived following the technique described by
Dierickx. It is found by numerical simulation that the results may be
applied to telescopes with realistic segmentation schemes for piston
errors up to = 80nm.