Physics › Section S · Vision, instruments, and wave optics › Topic S.2
Microscopes, telescopes, and aberrations
Two lenses in a tube let you see a cell's nucleus or the moons of Jupiter. Microscopes and telescopes are built from the thin lenses and mirrors you already know, and their limits come from the ways real lenses fall short of the ideal.
In this topic
- Instruments with more than one lens
- Angular magnification and the magnifier
- The compound microscope
- Worked example: a student microscope
- How far a light microscope can go
- The refracting telescope
- Worked example: looking at the Moon
- Reflecting telescopes
- Aberrations
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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