The effect of aperture and seeing on the visibility of sunspots when using early modern and modern telescopes of modest size

TL;DR

This paper investigates how aperture size and atmospheric seeing conditions influence the visibility of sunspots in telescopic observations, highlighting that even small telescopes are affected but larger ones maintain better detail under similar conditions.

Contribution

It provides a quantitative analysis of the combined effects of seeing and aperture on sunspot visibility, emphasizing the importance of aperture size in observational quality.

Findings

Small telescopes are significantly affected by seeing.

Larger telescopes retain better detail despite seeing effects.

Seeing impacts all aperture sizes, but larger telescopes outperform smaller ones.

Abstract

Using the convolution of seeing and diffraction, the relation between seeing and aperture in the visibility of sunspots is explored. It is shown that even telescopes with apertures smaller than 5 centimetres are significantly affected by seeing. Although larger aperture instruments suffer more from seeing than smaller ones, their level of detail always remains better under the same atmospheric conditions.