Question

Imagine an airplane passenger looking down on two automobiles side by side on the ground. According to the Rayleigh criterion, at what maximum altitude will the passenger just resolve them as two if their center-to-center separation is 3.3 m? Assume that the passenger has good eyesight with pupils narrowed to 2.0 mm because of bright light. (Use wavelength = 550 nm)

Answer 1

altitude=[(center-to center separation)/(1.22)] * [(pupils in m)/(wavelength in m)]

[3.3/1.22] * [2E-3/5.5E-7]
=9836 m