Rayleigh's critereon problem please check my work

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on calculating the minimum distance apart of two stars for distinguishability using Rayleigh's criterion. The telescope diameter is 8 meters, and the light wavelength is 500 nm. The calculated angular resolution (theta) is 7.6e-8 degrees, leading to a distance of 7.959e-6 meters between the stars. The user incorrectly divided by the speed of light (c) instead of multiplying the distance in meters by the number of seconds in a year to convert to light years.

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Homework Statement



a telescope has a diameter of 8m. A double star 6000 light years away is viewed. what must be the min distance apart (in ly) of the two stars for their images to be distinguished if light of wavelength 500nm is used?



Homework Equations


theta = 1.22 (lamda/D)
D = 8m
lamda = 500e-9m


The Attempt at a Solution




theta = 7.6e-8 deg
theta/2 = 3.8e-8 deg (to find half distance between stars using right triangle)

sin(3.8e-8) (6000) = 3.979e-6

3.979e-6 * 2 = 7.959e-6m = distance between the two stars.

finally divide by c to get light years and i get 2.65e-14 ly... this is wrong though.. please help thanks
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Why did you divide by c?

If you have a distance in [m] and want to find the equivalent in [ly], you need to times the distance in [m] by the number of seconds in a year and by the value of c.R.
 

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