Space exploration began with the launch of Sputnik and Astrophysics was born as the application of physics to the phenomena observed by Astronomy, which etymologically means laws of the stars.
There are 2759 entries in this glossary.| Term | Definition |
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| Schmidt Camera |
A type of wide-field astronomical telescope, designed purely for photographic use. It was invented by Bernhard Schmidt in 1930. The light collector is a spherical mirror. Correction for spherical aberration is achieved by means of a thin glass corrector plate with a complex profile, placed at the end of the telescope tube, beyond the focal point. The photographic plate is placed at the prime focus, where the focal plane is curved. A special plate holder is used to bend the photographic plate into the focal plane. By this means, sharp undistorted images can be obtained over very wide fields of view - up to tens of degrees across.
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