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Re: Real birds?

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Subject: Re: Real birds?
From: (Harvey Perkins)
Date: Wed, 6 Nov 1996 15:09:09 +1000
Richard Thomas wrote

>When you look through a pair of binoculars or through a telescope at a bird
>, what you actually see is a magnified VIRTUAL image, not a REAL image of
>the bird. Therefore you don't really SEE the bird through your optics.
>Whilst for the vast majority of birds this doesn't matter too much as
>normally you see them with your naked eye, although they are identified
>using binoculars, it does pose some serious problems about ticking birds
>only seen through your telescope on seawatches etc.


can't agree with that I'm afraid.  When looking through binoculars or a
scope you are seeing a magnified REAL image of the bird.. in real life, in
real time.

All that is happening is the light is being bent and distorted through the
lenses and mirrors to increase the size of the image. Nothing is being
stored, converted to some other form of information or anything else as it
is in photography, video, telephone etc.  It is still the same light that
was originally  reflected from the surface of the real live bird.

Harvey



..........................................
Harvey D. Perkins
Divn Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Faculty of Science
Australian National University            |  Editor, Gang-gang (Newsletter of
Canberra, ACT, 0200,  Australia           |  Canberra Ornithologist's Group)
ph: +61.6.249 2663; fax: +61.6.249 0313   |  42 Summerland Circuit
email:           |  Kambah, ACT, 2902
...........................................................................



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