Index

Topics
Pg.No
1.Spherical lenses 2

2. Image formation by spherical lenses 5

3.Lens formula 7

4.Astronomical Telescope 10

5.Parts Required 10

6.Working Principle of an Astronomical Telescope 11

7.Uses 14

8.Future Aspects 15

9.Bibliography 16

1
 Spherical lenses

A spherical lens is a lens in which each spherical surface forms part of a

sphere and so all meridians of each surface have the same curvature and the
refraction is symmetrical about the principal axis.

Pole

The centre of the spherical refracting surface of the lens is called the pole. It is
the point where the principal axis meets the surface of the lens.

Optical Centre

The point on the principal axis at the centre of the lens is called the optical
centre.

Centre of Curvature

A lens has two spherical surfaces; these two spherical surfaces form a part of a
sphere. The centre of these spheres is known as the centre of curvature.

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Principal Axis

The principal axis is an imaginary line passing through the centres of curvature
and the pole.

Aperture

The area of the lens suitable for refraction is called aperture. The aperture of the
lens is the effective diameter of its light-transmitting area.

Focus

Focus is the point onto which collimated light parallel to the axis is focused.

Focal Length

The focal length is the distance between the optical centre and the focal point or
focus of the lens

3
IMAGE FORMATION BY

CONVEX AND CONCAVE LENS

4
5
LENS FORMULA

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LENS FORMULA

Lens formula relates the distance of object from the lens with
distance of image from the lens. Before deriving lens formula,
following sign conventions and assumptions must be kept in mind.

Assumptions
(1) Sizes of object and image are small

(2) Angle of incidence and refraction are small angles

Sign Conventions: (New Cartesian Sign

Convention)

(1) Incident light is always shown from left to right.

(2) All the distances are measured from the pole

(3) The distances measured in the direction of incident light

are taken positive and those measured opposite to direction of
incident light are negative.

(4) Distances measured above principal axis are positive and

below principal axis are negative.

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Deriving the Lens Formula

Lens formula can be derived for any one of the cases of image
formation shown before. When we derive a formula, we keep in
mind the sign conventions and substitute each value with sign. This
makes a formula suitable to be applied in any case. Here, we shall

derive the formula for two cases.

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Real Object and Real image (Convex lenses)

CA = -u (object distance)

CB+v (image distance)

CF₂ = +f (focal length)

triangleA’AC – triangleB’BC

AA'/B'B=CA/CB ………(i)

Also trianglePCF₂– triangleB'BF₂

=>PC/BB'=CF₂/BF₂ (or) A'A/B'B=CF₂/(CB-CF₂) …….(ii)

From (i)and(ii) we get

CA/CB=CF₂/(CB-CF₂)

=>-u/+v=f/v-f

uv-uf=-vf

uv=uf-vf

=>1/f=1/v-1/u ……(÷throughout by uvf)

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 TELESCOPE
AstronomicalTelescope

An Astronomical Telescope is a simple device based on

optical refraction through spherical lenses, that is used to view
heavenly bodies such as the moon, stars and distant objects.

Parts Required

Two Convex Lenses are required:

• Objective Lens: This lens is fitted at the front side of

the telescope. It should have a large aperture (diameter) and a
large focal length.

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 • Eyepiece: This lens is fitted at the back side of the
telescope. It should have a smaller aperture (diameter) and
focal length as compared to the objective lens.

Working Principle of an Astronomical Telescope

As this telescope uses a lens as an objective, it is called a

refracting telescope or refractor.

The objective lens forms a real, reduced image I of the

object. This image is the object for the eyepiece lens, which forms

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an enlarged, virtual image of I. Objects that are viewed with a
telescope are usually so far away from the instrument that the
first image I is formed very nearly at the second focal point of the
objective lens. If the final image I’ formed by the eyepiece is at
infinity (for most comfortable viewing by a normal eye), the first
image must also be at the first focal point of the eyepiece. The
distance between objective and eyepiece, which is the length of
the telescope, is therefore the sum of the focal lengths of
objective and eyepiece,

ƒ1 +ƒ2.

The angular magnification M of a telescope is defined as the

ratio of the angle subtended at the eye by the final image I’ to the
angle subtended at the eye by the object. We can express this
ratio in terms of the focal lengths of objective and eyepiece. The
object (not shown) subtends an angle Ө at the objective and
would subtend essentially the same angle at the eye. Also, since
the observer’s eye is placed just to the right of the focal point F 2’,
the angle subtended at the eye by the final image is very nearly
equal to the angle Ө’. As bd is parallel to the optic axis, the
distances ab and cd are equal to each other and also to the height
y’ of the real image I. Because the angles Ө and Ө’ are small, they
may be approximated by their tangents. From the right triangles
F1ab and F2cd,

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 And the angular magnification M is

The angular magnification M of a telescope is equal to the

ratio of the focal length of the objective to that of the eyepiece.
The negative sign shows that the final image is inverted. This
equation shows that to achieve good angular magnification, a
telescope should have a long objective focal length ƒ 1.

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 Uses

1.Astronomical telescopes are being used worldwide for

scientific as well as educational purposes.

2.The refracting telescope design was originally used in spy

glasses.

3.It is also used in long focus camera lenses.

4.With the addition of another convex lens (inverting lens) at

an appropriate position, this telescope can be modified into a
terrestrial telescope.

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Modified Models & Designs

 Galileo’s Telescope

 Keplerian Telescope

 Achromatic Refractor

 Apochromatic Refractor

Image of a refracting
fromCincinnati in

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Bibliography

• Physics (Part I) – Textbook for Class XII; National

Council of Educational Research and Training

• HTTPS://GOOGLE.COM

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