William Herschel (1706-1761) tried to correct for this distortion by combining two separate lenses, but it was still difficult to achieve good resolution for far distant light sources. Reflector telescopes, invented by Isaac Newton in 1668, used a single concave mirror rather than a convex lens. The concave mirror gathered more light than a lens, reflecting it onto a flat mirror at the end of the telescope for viewing. A smaller mirror could provide greater magnification and a larger field of view than a convex lens. Newton's first mirror was 1.3 inches in diameter; such mirrors were rarely more than 3 inches
Lens clock clock can be used if a dial thickness gauge is not available. To do this, the contact lens is placed concave side up on a table or other hard surface. The lens clock is then brought down on it such that the center prong contacts the lens as close to its center as possible, and the outer prongs rest on the table. The thickness of the lens is then the sagitta formula_4 in the formula above, and can be calculated from the optical power reading, if the distance between the outer prongs is known. Lens clock A lens clock is