Find the minimum aperture diameter of a camera that can resolve detail on the ground the size of a person (2.0 m ) from an SR-71 Blackbird airplane flying at an altitude of 29 km . (Assume light with a wavelength of 450 nm .)

Answer :

Answer:

Minimum aperture diameter, B = [tex]7.96\times 10^{-9} = 7.96 mm[/tex]

Given:

Altitude of airplane, l = 29 Km = 29000 m

width, d = 2.0 m

wavelength, [tex]\lambda = 450 nm = 450\times 10^{-9}[/tex]

Solution:

By Reighley criterion, Angle of resolution [tex]\theta [/tex] is given by:

[tex]\theta_{min} = 1.22\frac{\lambda}{B}[/tex]                            (1)

Also, separation angle or limiting angle, [tex]\theta_{min} = \frac{\lambda}{w}[/tex]        (2)

From eqn (1) and (2):

[tex]B = 1.22\frac{\lambda\times l}{w}[/tex]

[tex]B = 1.22\frac{450\times 10^{-9}\times 29000}{2}[/tex]

B = 7.96 mm

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