Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!mcdchg!ddsw1!obdient!vpnet!cgordon
From: cgordon@vpnet.chi.il.us (Gordon Hlavenka)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Hubble test
Message-ID: <269a39a1-13esci.space.shuttle@vpnet.chi.il.us>
Date: 10 Jul 90 21:55:05 GMT
Lines: 19


How about this for poor Hubble:

Find a suitable starfield, then take a time exposure while sweeping the
telescope through some arc greater than its field of view.  By doing this
twice, with the sweeps 90 degrees displaced from each other, we would have
essentially a grid of what _should_ be straight lines.  Of course, the lines
wouldn't be straight, due to the lens problem.  But the data collected would
allow the image processing folks to fully characterize the aberration.

My guess would be that if the flaw is repeatable and measurable there should
be little difficulty processing it out of the images.

Corrective lens in the camera?  Leave it to some programmer to recommend a
hardware solution!  If they can't get a ten foot mirror right, what makes
anyone think they can get a two inch (or whatever) lens right?

-----------------------------------------------------------
Gordon S. Hlavenka                  cgordon@vpnet.chi.il.us
Disclaimer: He's sleeping, he doesn't know what he's saying