Can anyone recommend a good book on Astro optics?

[Andymarrison]

Hi everyone

Can anyone recommend a good book on optics for astronomy? I'm comfortable with all the tricky maths etc but would get the most out of a book that combines this with some sensible, practical observations about the characteristics and limitations of different systems.

Thanks!

Andy

[Capricorn]

All the books I have are from Uni so possibly contain the information you want but hidden in a mass of other information..

Try a search through Amazon for "Basic telescope optics", same search on the web turned up:

http://www.astro.rug.nl/~peletier/wt1/Telescopes.html

Half the problem is that a book will explain the ideal case then in different chapters the non-ideal bits and these non-ideal you have to remember then consider yourself. Also you may have to work out All the not perfect things yourself.

If a mirror surface is say 1 arc wrong then light reflects off with an error of 2 arcsec, That is not the end as the light then reflects off the secondary and the error is doubled there again so by the time it gets to the eyepiece the error is 4 arcsec. So any error at the mirror is 4x by the time it gets to the eyepiece. This is not covered in any text book, but is a very simple law of reflection.

[Andymarrison]

I had a look on Amazon and this one looked the closest to what I might be looking for http://www.amazon.co.uk/Astronomical-Optics-Daniel-J-Schroeder/dp/0126298106/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1340522405&sr=8-155.

Which textbooks from Uni do you have, Capricorn? My degree was in Theoretical Physics, so I'm happy with a fair degree of mathematical and physics content, though ironically I always hated optics - twenty-plus years later I'm wishing I'd paid more attention!

[umadog]

I suspect "Star Testing Astronomical Telescopes" could be for you. http://www.willbell.com/tm/tm5.htm It's quite a technical book on how to tune a telescope (mainly aimed at reflectors). It describes the effect of different things on the optical performance. e.g. The effect of bad seeing, the effect of the secondary mirror obstruction, the effect of the spider, the effect of a turned edge on the primary, etc. It lays to rest quite a number of common misconceptions and is very quantitative. Shows you how to test all these things yourself. Well worth reading.

The other resource is free! http://www.telescope-optics.net/ That provides a very thorough overview of telescope optics. Really pretty hard-core. Even addresses mathematically some stuff that is endlessly debated the fora, such as whether large telescopes are more affected by seeing. Here's the answer: http://www.telescope...nd_aperture.htm

[DirkSteele]

I agree, Star Testing Astronomical Telescopes - A manual for Optical Evaluation and Adjustment by Harold Richard Suiter might well fit the bill. Both you and I have a physics background so I can say the maths will give you no issues. And to be honest it is not crucial to understanding the themes anyway. It has been many years since I last read it and only started a 2nd read through last week.

[DirkSteele]

Oh and found optics boring at Undergrad level as well!

[cs1cjc]

What you want is Telescope Optics - A Comprehensive Manual fo Amateur Astronmers, Rutten and Martin van Venrooij:

http://www.willbell.com/tm/tm6.htm

Carriage from Wiilman Bell is expensive, but other US bookstores can be quite cheap if you cannot find an affordable (or indeed any) UK/EU source. There is no import duty on books!

Star Testing by Suiter and theTelescope Optics web sites are also worthwhile.

[Andymarrison]

That's great thanks guys! Lots to go on - I'll certainly be buying one or maybe even all of these titles.

I should say I've no ambition to build anything (because [a] I'm a perfectionist, I I'd never finish it; and my 4 year old and 2 year old would in any case have their sticky mitts all over it within seconds!), but I like the idea of the books aimed primarily at practical projects because I think they probably give more of a flavour of the real limitations of an optical system and their causes.

Oh and found optics boring at Undergrad level as well!

If your course was anything like mine, Capricorn, it fell between the two stools of a mathematically rigorous approach on the one hand and a course firmly tied to practical imaging problems on the other - it therefore failed to capture anyone's imagination. An introductory undergrad optics course based around some practical problems in astronomical imaging would have generated much more interest, I think. Incidentally, which University did you study at?

[x6gas]

Oh and found optics boring at Undergrad level as well!

Optics was one of my favourites. Way better than electrostatics (apply Gauss theory to a zillion different shaped objects - yuk!) or thermodynamics (something about Carrot engines? )

[Andymarrison]

Optics was one of my favourites. Way better than electrostatics (apply Gauss theory to a zillion different shaped objects - yuk!) or thermodynamics (something about Carrot engines? )

Fully agree on the thermodynamics - as far as I could make out it was just a randomly selected set of equations and laws to be assembled in any order the lecturer saw fit on the day. Still, it's quite impressive that they figured out how to make an engine out of a carrot, I agree . It's a wonder how I passed, really...

Whereabouts in Oxfordshire are you, x6gas? Feel free to a. not answer that question; or b. PM me, if you don't want to broadcast your location to the universe! Nice set-up, by the way!

[Steve Ward]

Best one I've found so far was an Oxfam Bookshop find for £2.99.

Amateur Astronomers Handbook

By J. B. Sidgwick.

Published by Faber and Faber Ltd , 24 Russell Sq.

1961.

Covers absolutely everything you can think off and more.

Available here ,

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Amateur-astronomers-handbook-J-Sidgwick/dp/B0000CKXDW/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1340833625&sr=1-5

[cs1cjc]

And there is a new Willman Bell book, which looks promising not least because it includes Roger Ceragioli amongst the authors:

http://www.willbell....strographs.html

Telescopes, Eyepieces and Astrographs: Design, Analysis and Performance of Modern Astronomical Optics

by Gregory Hallock Smith, Roger Ceragioli and Richard Berry

Roger has written a wonderful text on refractors that is still available hidden away on the web, see links from the following page:

http://translate.goo...9tEEwYHI1yzVCgg

He designed the Astro -Tech coma corrector, various AstroTech telescopes and I think also the well regarded Astro-Tech Paradignm (better known in the UK as BST Explorer) eyepieces.