Herschel wedge
A Herschel wedge or Herschel prism is an optical prism used in solar observation to refract most of the light out of the optical path, allowing safe visual observation. It was first proposed and used by astronomer John Herschel in the 1830s.
Overview
The prism in a Herschel wedge is a trapezoidal cross section. The surface of the prism facing the light acts the same as a standard diagonal mirror reflecting a small portion of the incoming light at 90 degrees into the eyepiece. The trapezoidal prism shape refracts the remainder light gathered by the telescope's the objective away at an angle. The Herschel Wedge reflects about 4.6% of the light that passes through one of the prism faces that is flat to 1/10 of a wave. 95.4% of light and heat goes into the prism and exits through the other face and out the backdoor of the housing, thus the excess light and heat is dispensed and not used for observing.[1] While they decrease the intensity of the light, they do not affect the visible spectra, resulting in a more accurate spectral profile which can be filtered to bring out certain details. They are an alternative to white light filters, which, despite their name, inherently must block certain visible spectra.
Limitations
While the prism is constructed of special glass which absorbs UV and IR light, it cannot be used with a reflecting telescope design. This is because a reflecting telescope focuses all wavelengths of light equally, including UV and IR. The concentrated IR, in particular, can crack or unglue optical elements in a telescope, resulting in serious injury to the eye or possible blindness. The glass objective lens in a refracting telescope absorbs these wavelengths (as does a Maksutov reflector, with its glass corrector plate, though it is not recommended for use with a Herschel wedge).
It is also important to note that even at 4.5%, (~N.D. 1.35)[2] the light from the sun is still strong enough to burn the retina, and so an appropriate neutral density filter must still be used.[3]
See also
External links
- ^ http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=109
- ^ Warren J. Smith's Modern Optical Engineering, Third Edition, 2000, pg. 175, McGraw-Hill, Warren J. Smith et. al., (Kaiser Electro-Optics Inc.), ISBN 0-07-136360-2.
- ^ http://www.alpineastro.com/Solar_Observation/HerschelWedge.htm