Abstract: A confocal color opthalmoscope having a line-shaped, incoherent light source. The light emitted from the linear light source is focused and scanned to illuminate a region of a retina of an eye with a line oriented perpendicular to the direction of scan. Light reflected from the retina of eye is collected, descanned and focused onto a line shaped detector. A dispersive element may be used to illuminate a multi-slit plate with different spectral components. The retina may then be scanned with multiple slits, each having a different spectral makeup. Light reflected from the retina may be descanned and imaged back to a multiple linear array photo-detector. One of said slits may be illuminated with infra-red radiation, and the others with visible light. A filter may allow only the infra-red light to reach the retina during an initial alignment mode, allowing non-mydriatic alignment of the opthalmoscope.