NATS 1575 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Optical Microscope, Eyepiece, Optical Instrument
6 Apr 2016
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A microscope is an optical instrument that uses a lens or a combination of lenses to magnify and resolve the fine details of an object. The earliest methods for examining physical evidence relied solely on the microscope. The magnified image seen by looking through a lens is known as a virtual image, whereas an image viewed directly is known as a real image. The object to be magnified is placed under the lower lens, called the objective and viewed through the upper lens, called the eyepiece. Various types of microscopes are used to analyze forensic specimens. In the basic compound microscope, the object to be magnified is placed under the lower lens (objective lens) and the magnified image is viewed through the upper lens (eyepiece lens). The magnification of the image can be calculated by multiplying the magnifying power of the objective lens times the magnifying power of the eyepiece lens. Higher magnification has lower depth of focus.
