Re: ATM Folded Newt Question

["Bob May" <bobmay@nethere.com>]

As the total amount of error is increased, the RMS will also increase.
Imagine that the column has a certain curvature to the error of the path.
This error will increase (to a certain point, you do understand as there's
limits to what the air can do) as you get further from the center of the
column.  Considering that the beam isn't so wide as to hit the limits of
what air can change the direction of the light, this means that the larger
the column, the larger the RMS error is going to be.
The second thing that you have to remember is that the error band also gets
smaller (the larger scope has a higher resolution!) for the larger scope and
thus, the seeing effect is better seen with the larger scope as the scope
will see finer detail when the seeing is good and thus, you will notice when
the detail goes away a lof easier.  In other words, if everything is fuzzy
to begin with, you won't notice more fuzziness as fast as when you're able
to see sharper.
Bob May
http://nav.to/bobmay
bobmay@nethere.com
NEW! http://bobmay.astronomy.net