17th century scientist Christiaan Huygens had a fascination with Saturn, but his telescopes may have produced fuzzier views than those of his contemporaries, despite having well-crafted lenses.
One possible explanation for this is that Huygens needed glasses, according to astronomer Alexander Pietrow, who proposed this theory in Notes and Records: the Royal Society Journal of the History of Science on March 1.
Huygens combined two lenses, an objective and an eyepiece, positioned at either end of the telescope to make his telescopes. He experimented with different lenses to find combinations that created a sharp image, eventually creating a table to keep track of which combinations to use to obtain a given magnification. However, Pietrow, of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam in Germany, suggests that Huygens’ calculations were slightly off when compared with modern-day knowledge of optics.
One possible explanation for this discrepancy is that Huygens selected lenses based on his flawed vision. Historical records indicate that Huygens’ father was nearsighted, so it wouldn’t be surprising if Christiaan Huygens also suffered from the often-hereditary affliction.
2023-03-20 08:00:00
Post from www.sciencenews.org