Size of smallest details in sunspot ("first light"

Started by optixwiz, 08/27/2010 10:45PM
Posted 08/27/2010 10:45PM Opening Post
50 mile wide detail seen from a nominal 93,000,000 miles works out to be an angle of a mere 5e-7 radians, or about 0.1 arc second.

That's very nearly the theoretical limit of resolution.

Actually, the Rayleigh criterion for resolution for the 1.6-m aperture would be about 0.08 arc second for H-alpha light.

Amazing performance from any telescope. Truly amazing performance from a solar telescope at a groundbased observatory.