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David

Darling

focal plane

Focal plane.

Parallel rays of light that are not parallel to the optical axis will meet on the focal plane. In this example, a simple concave lens is shown.


The focal plane is the flat plane at right angles to the optical axis onto which a lens will focus an image.

 

Curvature of field results in an extended image forming on a curved surface known as the focal surface.

 

A focal plane scale is the relationship between angles on the sky, in arcseconds, and millimeters of size at the focus of the telescope, i.e., the number of arcseconds per millimeter.