peegelkaugus

Peegelkaugus is a term used in optics to describe the distance to a reflected image as seen in a mirror. In practical terms, it is the distance from the mirror to the image that appears behind the mirror, or, more generally, the perceived location of the image along the optical axis. The concept helps to explain how reflections are perceived and how object distance relates to image distance.

In the case of a plane mirror, the image is virtual, upright, and located behind the mirror at a distance equal to the object's distance in front of the mirror. For example, if you stand 2 meters in front of a flat mirror, your image appears 2 meters behind the mirror. Consequently, the overall line-of-sight distance to the image from the observer can be thought of as the sum of the object-to-mirror distance and the mirror-to-image distance.

Curved mirrors, such as concave and convex ones, produce image distances that depend on the object's distance and the mirror’s focal length. Depending on these parameters, the image can be real or virtual, magnified or diminished, and located at different distances from the mirror. In these cases, peegelkaugus remains a useful way to describe where the image lies relative to the mirror.

Peegelkaugus is central to optical demonstrations, photography, and the design of devices that use mirrors. It is commonly illustrated with ray diagrams and is related to concepts such as object distance, image distance, and focal length. See also image distance, focal length, plane mirror, curved mirror.