2005/10/07 by G. Anglada‐Escudé, G. Anglada-Escude, Anglada-Escude, G. +8
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Adaptive optics and wavefront sensing #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #Calibration and Measurement Techniques #FOS: Physical sciences #History and Developments in Astronomy #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0510226
12 pages, 9 figures. Major changes in the paper structure. More detailed discussions on propagation delays added. New figures added
openalex publication_date 2005/10/07 · arxiv created 2006/09/05 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Context. High accuracy astrometric instruments like Gaia aiming at an accuracy of 1 microarcsecond cannot be considered as point-like observers in the framework of relativistic modelling of observable quantities. Aims. Special-relativistic effects on the imaging by a non-point-like arbitrarily moving optical instrument are discussed. Methods. A special-relativistic reflection law for a mirror of arbitrary shape and motion is derived in the limit of geometrical optics. The aberration patterns are computed with ray tracing using a full pecial-relativistic model for two simple rotating optical instrument. Results. It was found that the effect of special-relativistic reflection law on the photocenters of aberration patterns of an optical system rotating with a moderate angular velocity of 60 \arcsec/\rm s may be at the level of 1 microarcsecond if the system involves mirrors significantly inclined relative to the optical axis. Conclusions. Special-relativistic optical modelling of the future astrometric instrument is generally speaking indispensable if a level of a few microarcseconds is envisaged.