A typical value of refractive index for crown glass is 1.5, (See list) which indicates that only about 43% of the area (67% of diameter) of a spherical lens is useful.
Spherical Earth | Spherical coordinate system | spherical aberration | Optical aberration | Chromatic aberration | chromatic aberration | Plancherel theorem for spherical functions | Aberration of light |
Chromatic aberration, spherical aberration and the dependence on natural light all played a role in limiting microscope performance in the early 19th century.
Due to a miscalibrated null corrector, the primary mirror was also found to have a significant spherical aberration after reaching orbit on STS-31.
The design has an ultra wide field of view with no spherical aberration but does not correct chromatic aberration and was only suitable as a monochromatic astronomical astrographic camera working at a single wavelength of light.