Бұрыштық ажыратымдылық және кескіндік жүйелер

Ability of any image forming device to distinguish small details of an object
optics and imaging systems

Angular resolution describes the ability of any image forming device such as an optical or radio telescope, a microscope, a camera, or an eye, to distinguish small details of an object, thereby making it a major determinant of image resolution. It is used in optics applied to light waves, in antenna theory applied to radio waves, and in acoustics applied to sound waves. The colloquial use of the term "resolution" sometimes causes confusion; when an optical system is said to have a high resolution or high angular resolution, it means that the perceived distance, or actual angular distance, between resolved neighboring objects is small. The value that quantifies this property, θ, which is given by the Rayleigh criterion, is low for a system with a high resolution. The closely related term spatial resolution refers to the precision of a measurement with respect to space, which is directly connected to angular resolution in imaging instruments. The Rayleigh criterion shows that the minimum angular spread that can be resolved by an image forming system is limited by diffraction to the ratio of the wavelength of the waves to the aperture width. For this reason, high resolution imaging systems such as astronomical telescopes, long distance telephoto camera lenses and radio telescopes have large apertures.

Resolving power is the ability of an imaging device to separate (i. e., to see as distinct) points of an object that are located at a small angular distance or it is the power of an optical instrument to separate far away objects, that are close together, into individual images. The term resolution or minimum resolvable distance is the minimum distance between distinguishable objects in an image, although the term is loosely used by many users of microscopes and telescopes to describe resolving power. As explained below, diffraction limited resolution is defined by the Rayleigh criterion as the angular separation of two point sources when the maximum of each source lies in the first minimum of the diffraction pattern (Airy disk) of the other. In scientific analysis, in general, the term "resolution" is used to describe the precision with which any instrument measures and records (in an image or spectrum) any variable in the specimen or sample under study.

Name Image Angular resolution (arc seconds) Wavelength Type Site Year Global mm VLBI Array (successor to the Coordinated Millimeter VLBI Array) 0.000012 (12 μas) radio (at 1.3 cm) very long baseline interferometry array of different radio telescopes a range of locations on Earth and in space 2002   Very Large Telescope/PIONIER 0.001 (1 mas) light (1 2 micrometre) largest optical array of 4 reflecting telescopes Paranal Observatory, Antofagasta Region, Chile 2002/2010 Hubble Space Telescope 0.04 light (near 500 nm) space telescope Earth orbit 1990 James Webb Space Telescope 0.1 infrared (at 2000 nm) space telescope Sun–Earth L2 2022