A microlithography projection objective includes an optical element, a manipulator configured to manipulate the optical element, and a control unit configured to control the manipulator. The control unit includes a first device configured to control movement of the manipulator, a memory comprising an upper bound for a range of movement of the manipulator, and a second device configured to generate a merit function based on a square of a root mean square (RMS) of at least one error and configured to minimize the merit function subordinate to the upper bound for the range of movement of the manipulator.