Abstract

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) will often be used at the limits of its performance capabilities to make observations of celestial objects from low earth orbit. HST is a near diffraction-limited telescope with a resolution capability an order of magnitude better than is possible with ground-based telescopes in the visible and near ultraviolet. Analysis of the complete system shows that HST is expected to meet or exceed the original goal set by NASA of a λ/20 rms wavefront error at a wavelength of 633 nm on the axis of the f/24 focal surface.

© 1989 Optical Society of America