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Updated: Jun 9, 2026

Bringing the Visible Universe into Focus with Robo-AO
Published on: February 12, 2013
Determination of the Hubble Space Telescope effective conic-constant error from direct image measurements
Abstract:
Direct measurement of discernible features in the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imagery has enabled a self-consistent determination to be made of the effective conic constant of HST images taken with planetary camera 6 (PC-6) of the wide field and planetary camera. Before being corrected for the contribution from PC-6, the conic constant is - 1.01429 +/- 0.0002. The correction for PC-6 is less accurately determined but probably lies between -0.0002 and 0.0004. As a result the HST optics are characterized best by a conic constant of - 1.0140 +/- 0.0003 as obtained from direct image measurements.
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