TELESCOPE AND SENSOR SYSTEMS AND METHODS

A system comprises a sensor subsystem for imaging an object space, and a telescope for coupling electromagnetic energy from the object space to the sensor subsystem. The system comprises a bypass optical path that bypasses the telescope on the way to the sensor subsystem in order to provide a larger field of view of the object space. The bypass path and the telescope path merge at a merging point between the telescope and the sensor subsystem, and are disjoint upstream of the merging point. A simple bypass configuration is therefore provided, with possibly just a single fold mirror at the merging point. A sensor may form an intermediate image, and a frame is placed at the intermediate image to reject stray radiation and provide a real and accessible intermediate pupil for the sensor. Other features are also provided.