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Compound eye

Dragonfly compound eyes
An image of a house fly compound eye surface by Scanning Electron microscope

Compound eyes consist of many photoreceptor units or ommatidia. Each 'ommatidium' (singular) is an individual 'eye unit'.

The image perceived is a combination of inputs from ommatidia on a convex surface. Thus they point in slightly different directions.

Compared with simple eyes, compound eyes possess a wide-angle view. They can detect fast movement and, in some cases, the polarization of light.[1]

  1. Völkel R; Eisner M. & Weible K.J. (2003). "Miniaturized imaging systems" (PDF). Microelectronic Engineering. 67–68 (1): 461–472. doi:10.1016/S0167-9317(03)00102-3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-10-01. Retrieved 2011-01-17.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

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