Written by a recognized expert in the field, this clearly presented, well-illustrated book provides both advanced level students and professionals with an authoritative, thorough presentation of the characteristics, including advantages and limitations, of telescopes and spectrographic instruments used by astronomers of today. - Written by a recognized expert in the field - Provides both advanced level students and professionals with an authoritative, thorough presentation of the characteristics, including advantages and limitations, of telescopes and spectrographic instruments used by astronomers of today

SPIE Milestones are collections of seminal papers from the world literature covering important discoveries and developments in optics and photonics.

These "excursions" into astronomical optics discuss innovative, often radical, suggestions for the design of optical instruments. Providing a storehouse of ideas and approaches not available elsewhere, Mertz suggests opportunities for further exploration and development rather than proven solutions. Covering a wide array of topics, from x-ray telescopes to gravitational lenses and from microscope objectives to Fourier transform spectroscopy, the excursions share a common thread of optical science related to astronomy. The book should thus interest researchers and graduate students in astronomy, optics, and optical engineering. Appendices provide Fortran code for some of the design techniques discussed in the book and for Monte Carlo image synthesis

Adaptive optics is set to revolutionise the future of astronomy; this is the first book on the subject and is set to become the standard reference.