Concentrating sunlight. Illustration showing various methods of concentrating sunlight in order to ignite some material. The main illustration depicts

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Concentrating sunlight. Illustration showing various methods of concentrating sunlight in order to ignite some material. The main illustration depicts a lens mounted on a castle turret being used to focus sunlight onto an attacking enemy ship. At the top is a diagram showing parallel light beams being focused by a mirror. In the centre are ray diagrams of a parabolic mirror (left), spherical mirror (right) and the two foci of an ellipse (centre). At the bottom right a light source at the focus of a parabolic mirror is used to project a parallel light beam. This illustration is taken from Kircher's Ars magna lucis et umbrae printed at Rome in 1646. .

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Size: 5932px × 4332px
Photo credit: © MIDDLE TEMPLE LIBRARY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 1600s, 1646, 17th, ars, century, concentrating, concentration, ellipse, energy, engraving, focus, horizontal, ignition, kircher, lens, light, magna, mirror, monochrome, parabolic, parallel, power, ray, reflection, solar, spherical, tracing, weapon