Astigmatism

Description

A refractive aberration in an optical system or lens. Astigmatism prevents light rays from converging at a single point. This results in a blurred or distorted image.

Synonyms and Related Terms

Astigmatismus (Deut.); astigmatismo (Esp., It., Port.); astigmatisme (Fr.); astygmatyzm (Pol.);

Resources and Citations

• Walter C. McCrone, John Gustave Delly, The Particle Atlas, W. McCrone Associates, Chicago, IV, 1972

• Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia, Douglas M. Considine (ed.), Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1976 Comment: p. 208

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998

• Wikipedia at http://www.wikipedia.com