ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Image-forming optical system

So, an image-forming optical system is kind of like a big camera that makes things look bigger or smaller. It has different parts that work together to create a picture of something you're looking at.

The first part is called the lens. This is like the eye of the camera. It's a clear piece of glass that bends the light coming in from the thing you're looking at. Just like how your eye sees things by bending light, the lens makes the image bigger or smaller by bending the light in a certain way.

The second part is called the aperture. This is like the hole in the camera that lets light in. The size of the aperture controls how much light gets into the camera. If it's really small, less light gets in and the image might be darker. If it's bigger, more light gets in and the image might be brighter.

The third part is called the sensor or the film. This is like the brain of the camera. It's where the image is actually created. When the light from the thing you're looking at goes through the lens and the aperture, it hits the sensor or film and makes a picture. The sensor or film records what the picture looks like and saves it, just like when you take a picture with a camera.

So, all of these parts work together to create a big camera that can make things look bigger or smaller. Just like how your eyes see things in real life, an image-forming optical system uses lenses and other parts to make a picture of what you're looking at.