AstronomyThe Walker School

In the sun, hydrogen atoms are fussed into helium, producing radiation.

Range: 400-700 nanometers

This visible-light image from the Hubble released on November 13, 2008 shows the newly discovered planet, Fomalhaut b, orbiting its parent star.

O3 Blocked by:

CO2Blocked by:

OzoneBlocked by:

Ionosphere

A German physicist February 22, 1857 – January 1,

1894 Was the first to satisfactorily

demonstrate the existence of electromagnetic waves by building an apparatus to produce and detect VHF or UHF radio waves.

He improved on James Maxwell’s work which demonstrated that electricity, magnetism and even light are all manifestations of the same phenomenon: the electromagnetic field.

Stars Galaxies Radio Galaxies Pulsars Masers

Schematic view of a pulsar. The sphere in the middle represents the neutron star, the curves indicate the magnetic field lines and the protruding cones represent the emission beams.

Electrons Protons Electrical Forces Electric Fields

Generated by Earth’s iron-nickel core and molten outer core.

Protects us from solar winds (radiation)

Occurs near the North and South poles.

Charged particles hit the atmosphere near the magnetic poles.

Electromagnetic radiation emitted from the surface of an object which is due to the object's temperature.

Generated when heat from the movement of charged particles within atoms is converted to electromagnetic radiation.

Variables:1. Temperature2. Surface Area

Radio Astronomy Microwave Astronomy IR Astronomy Optical Astronomy X-Ray Astronomy Gama-Ray Astronomy

Astronomy uses each part of the spectrum to collect information about stellar objects.

Filament system around NGC 1275

Every object in the Universe, including people, emit radiation at all times, because charged particles in them are in constant random motion.

No natural object emits all its radiation at just one frequency.

The total amount of emitted energy goes up with the temperature.

Studying how the intensity of the object’s radiation is distrusted across the EM spectrum, we can learn a lot about an object’s properties.

Blackbody curves describe the distribution of the emitted radiation.

Cool dark objects may emit only radio waves around 60K.

Young stars have higher temps. Around 600K, which emit radiation in the IR part of the spectrum.

Mature stars, like our Sun, emit radiation around 6000K, which is the brightest region of the visible spectrum.

Some very bright, hot stars, such as these in a cluster called Messier 2 emit radiation at 60,000K and radiate strongly along the ultraviolet part of the spectrum.