2015 is being celebrated as the International Year of Light. As part of that celebration, the international society for optics and photonics (SPIE) is sponsoring a photo contest "to raise awareness about the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies and the vital role that light and light-based technologies play in daily life." There is an online exhibition of light-themed photography (note: it seems to present the photos in a random order, so don't comment that you like "the third one", for instance). You can also vote for your favorite, and if you are inclined to give them your email address, you'll be entered to win a GoPro camera (contest runs through 15 August).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 17 2015, @01:53AM
The improper positioning of the null corrector is why it was so easy to make corrective optics. The optical system had perfect spherical aberration, no other higher aberrations. It wasn't that the field lens in the null corrector was made incorrectly, it was positioned incorrectly due to improper setup of equipment. Unless you had a large diameter optical interferometer in your garage, you wouldn't have been able to make that measurement. Your used drainpipe would not have been a sufficient replacement for the Invar structure to position the field lens in the null corrector due to thermal expansion issues.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday May 18 2015, @06:41PM
Really. A piece of copper drainpipe would have worked just fine.
I know what invar is and what it's used for.
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