aberration

aberration extract from Britannica Online.

Deviation of light rays by lenses or curved mirrors which causes the images to be blurred. Spherical aberration occurs because curvature in a lens or mirror causes rays falling on the outer edges to be brought to a focus at a different point than those falling on the middle. This makes the images formed appear blurred. Chromatic aberration, which occurs in lenses but not mirrors, is the failure of a lens to focus all colours (wavelengths) of light in the same plane; the image appears blurred and shows rainbow-coloured fringes around the edges. See also astigmatism.

aberration is one of 26,000 free short articles on Britannica Philippines

Find more information on aberration. Upgrade to Britannica Online for more on aberration.