1 / 11

Tools For Studying Space

Tools For Studying Space. What are the different ways that astronomers can observe distant objects in space?. Electromagnetic Spectrum. Remember that energy from distant stars and galaxies comes to Earth in the form of electromagnetic radiation.

tracey
Download Presentation

Tools For Studying Space

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Tools For Studying Space What are the different ways that astronomers can observe distant objects in space?

  2. Electromagnetic Spectrum • Remember that energy from distant stars and galaxies comes to Earth in the form of electromagnetic radiation. • This includes the small band of visible light our eyes can detect, as well as other types of radiation that our eyes CAN’T detect.

  3. Optical Telescopes • An instrument that allows us to use visible light to see things in space. • Three properties that determine quality of image produced: • Light Gathering Power – more light means you can see farther • Resolving Power – how clear or sharp is the image • Magnifying Power – how much the image is enlarged • Two types: • Refracting Telescopes – use a lens to refract (or bend) light to enlarge an image. (*CHROMATIC ABBERATION*) • Reflecting Telescopes – use a concave mirror to reflect and focus the light. (*No CHROMATIC ABBERATION*)

  4. Optical Telescopes

  5. Detecting Invisible Radiation • Not all of the radiation coming from an object in space is able to be seen with the human eye. In fact, the majority of the electromagnetic spectrum is INVISIBLE to human eyes. • We can still “detect” these invisible electromagnetic waves with tools that have been developed to expand our natural abilities.

  6. Radio Telescopes • Radio Telescopes focus incoming radio waves much like optical telescopes focus light waves. • The radio waves are focused onto an antenna which absorbs and transmits these waves to an amplifier. (Like a car radio) • Radio telescopes have poor resolution. To get a “clear” radio signal pairs or large groups of radio telescopes are arranged into a network called an interferometer.

  7. Radio Telescope

  8. VLA and Arecibo

  9. Pros and Cons of Radio Telescopes Advantages: • Less affected by air and pollutants in the atmosphere than optical telescopes • No dome necessary to protect mirrors and lenses • Can be used 24/7, does not have to be dark • Radio telescopes can “see” through interstellar gas and debris • They can see nebulae that are too cool to emit visible light and be seen with an optical telescope. (These cool nebulae are where stars are born) Disadvantage: • land based, human-made radio waves can interfere with radio telescopes.

  10. Other Telescopes Space Based Telescopes: • In orbit around Earth to reduce light and atmospheric pollution that plagues ground based telescopes. • Examples: 1) Hubble Space Telescope (optical) 2) Chandra X-Ray Observatory (X-Ray) 3) Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (Gamma Rays)

  11. The Crab Nebula Seen With Different Telescopes View the Sun using different wavelengths—click here!

More Related