If you have ever looked at a globular cluster that is not resolved into individual stars, but has a mottled appearance, you have experienced incipient resolution. In short, this refers to a situation where certain details may be just on the verge of being visible, and indicate their presence by an uneven texture of the image. In another example, a galaxy might have spiral structure that is not directly visible through your telescope, but suggests itself by a mottled appearance of the galaxy’s surface, or envelope. That’s incipient resolution.

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This page last updated on June 3, 2001