infrared telescopes andrea, scott, and martín visit for 100’s of free powerpoints
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Infrared Telescopes
Andrea, Scott, and Martín
Visit www.worldofteaching.comFor 100’s of free powerpoints
Infrared…wait what?!?!?• Infrared is a certain region in the light spectrum
• Ranges from .7µ to 1000µ or .1mm
• Broken into near, mid, and far infrared
• One step up on the light spectrum from visible light
• Measure of heat
Infrared Telescopes• Infrared telescopes
work much like visible light telescopes
• Light hits parabolic mirror
• Light is sent to focal point
• Light is recorded by computer and translated into visible light
History of Infrared
• Thirty years ago images were created by crude temperature readings and simple recording devices
• In 1980’s the military dedicated the first large sum of money towards infrared advancement (high background infrared)
• Recently scientists have changed the technology to focus on lower background heat and high sensitivity to fit the applications needed for astronomy
Problems with Infrared
• 99% of infrared rays are absorbed by water in our atmosphere
• The use of airplanes, weather balloons, and space bound telescopes help to solve these problems
Infrared
Another Problemo
• Everything in the universe above absolute zero radiates heat (infrared)
• This means the heat from the telescope may interfere with data
• Everything is cooled to almost absolute 0
Why Do We Need Infrared Telescopes?
• Infrared telescopes allow astronomers to gain information about regions in space that might otherwise remain invisible.
http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/ir_tutorial/psc_allsky.html
These regions include:• Cool states of matter• Regions obscured by clouds of dust or gas particles
http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/ir_tutorial/animation.html
Cool States of Matter• Most solid bodies in
space vary in temperature from 3 Kelvin’s to 1500 Kelvin's.
• This means that extremely cool objects undetectable to the human eye can be studied using infrared telescopes.
• These can include…http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/picturegallery/index.shtml
• Stars• Infrared galaxies• Clouds of particles
around stars • Nebulae • Interstellar molecules• Brown dwarfs• Planets
http://swtrekking.com/photo_gallery/images/stars.jpg
http://www.astr.tohoku.ac.jp/~tohru/AGgroup/arp220image.jpghttp://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/ContentMedia/M16WF2.jpg
http://www.iras.ucalgary.ca/~volk/crab_infrared_lg.gif
Clouds of Dust and Gas
• Some bodies of matter in space are hidden behind huge clouds of dust particles or gas.
• These include the centers of galaxies and clouds containing forming stars and planets.
• Infrared telescopes allow scientists to view these regions much more easily
The Early Universe• The Universe is constantly expanding• Because of this, most of the radiation emitted from
distant stars is in the infrared spectrum. • Our views of these distant bodies of matter in
space actually show us how they looked a long, long time ago.
http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/cosmic_reference/redshift.html
• To gain a greater knowledge about bodies of matter in space, we need information about all of the different forms of radiation that they emit.
SOFIA
• Airborne Observatory
• Reduces Atmospheric Interference
• Will begin observing in 2005
SOFIA
• 747SP Aircraft
• 2.5 meter reflector
• Largest telescope put in an aircraft
UKIRT• Earth-based
• Largest infrared telescope
• Located on Mauna Kea in Hawaii
• 3.8 meter reflector
• A lot of atmospheric interference
Spitzer Space Telescope
• Largest infrared telescope in space
• No atmospheric interference• .85 m reflector• Cryogenically cooled so not to
interfere with signals
Spitzer’s Cryostat
• Infrared is mostly heat waves, Spitzer is cool so its own heat does not interfere with signals
• 1.4 degrees kelvin
Spitzer Images
Bibliography
• http://www.sofia.arc.nasa.gov/Sofia/sofia.html
• http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/about/index.shtml
• http://www.jach.hawaii.edu/JACpublic/UKIRT/home.html