Resomask™ - How It Works
Resomask™ is a patented device which is placed on the end of an unobstructed telescope to improve its resolving power. Resomask™ is a precision aperture specially designed to change the diffraction pattern of a star, thereby reducing the size of its Airy disk. In Figure A, a star's classic Airy pattern can be observed. In Figure B, the same star is shown with Resomask™. Resomask™ reduces the light intensity by 1½ magnitudes and places some of the light in the outer rings thereby making the size of the Airy disk smaller. In fact, the Airy disk of the star in Figure A is a full 16% larger than it is with Resomask™ in Figure B.
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| Figure A: Simulated stellar image without Resomask™ | Figure B: Simulated stellar image with Resomask™ |
As an example, consider these actual photos of the double star Struve 2780 in the constellation Cepheus. Figure C shows a CCD picture of this double star as a single elongated image; the companion star is not resolved. The picture in figure D was taken under identical conditions (telescope, camera and image processing) with the addition of Resomask™. The improved resolution in figure D shows the companion star clearly separated from the primary.
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| Figure C: CCD image without Resomask™ | Figure D: CCD image with Resomask™ |