Radiation astronomy

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Radiation astronomy is astronomy applied to the various extraterrestrial sources of radiation, especially at night. It is also conducted above the Earth's atmosphere and at locations away from the Earth, by satellites and space probes, as a part of explorational (or exploratory) radiation astronomy.

Educational level: this is a secondary education resource.

Seeing the Sun and feeling the warmth of its rays is probably a student's first encounter with an astronomical radiation source. This will happen from a very early age, but a first understanding of the concepts of radiation may occur at a secondary educational level.

Educational level: this is a tertiary (university) resource.

Radiation is all around us on top of the Earth's crust, regolith, and soil, where we live. The study of radiation, including radiation astronomy, usually intensifies at the university undergraduate level.

Educational level: this is a research resource.

And, generally, radiation becomes hazardous, when a student embarks on graduate study.

Resource type: this resource is an article.

Cautionary speculation may be introduced unexpectedly to stimulate the imagination and open a small crack in a few doors that may appear closed at present. As such, this learning resource is part lecture and part article as it incorporates some state-of-the-art results from the scholarly literature.

Resource type: this resource contains a lecture or lecture notes.

The laboratories of radiation astronomy are limited to the radiation observatories themselves and the computers and other instruments (sometimes off site) used to analyse the results.

This image is a composite of several types of radiation astronomy: radio, infrared, visual, ultraviolet, soft and hard X-ray. Credit: NASA.

Notation

Notation: let the letters Def. indicate that a definition is following.

Universals

Radiation astronomy consists of three fundamental parts:

1. derivation of logical laws with respect to incoming radiation,
2. natural radiation sources outside the Earth, and
3. the sky and associated realms with respect to radiation.

To help with definitions, their meanings and intents, there is the learning resource theory of definition.

Def. an action or process of throwing or sending out a traveling ray of energy in a line, beam, or stream of small cross section is called radiation.

The term radiation is often used to refer to the ray itself.

Def. a spontaneous emission of an α ray, β ray, or γ ray by the disintegration of an atomic nucleus is called radioactivity.

Theoretical astronomy

Theoretical astronomy at its simplest is the definition of terms to be applied to astronomical phenomena.

Def. an "expanse of space that seems to be [overhead] like a dome" is called a sky.

Theoretical radiation astronomy

Def. a theory of the science of the biological, chemical, physical, and logical laws (or principles) with respect to any natural radiation source in the sky especially at night is called theoretical radiation astronomy.

The Electron Volt

This is a unit that will be useful later.

The eV is the energy gained by an electron in passing through a potential difference of one volt. Since the charge on an electron is 1.60218 x 10^-19 Coulombs, an eV is 1.60218 x 10^-19 J. A keV is 1000 eV and a MeV is 1000 keV).

A photon with an energy of 1eV has a frequency of 1 eV/h = 2.41799 x 10¹⁴ Hz or about 242 THz and a wavelength of c.h/1 eV = 1.23984 x 10^-6 m or about 1,240nm or 12,400Å. That would put the photon in the infrared range. In practice, photon energies are never quoted for such long wavelengths.

Source astronomy

In source astronomy, the question is "Where did it come from?"

Def. a source or apparent source detected or “created at or near the time of the [ event or] events” is called a primary source.

Cosmic-ray astronomy

The flux of cosmic-ray particles is a function of their energy. Credit: Sven Lafebre, after Swordy.

At right is an image indicating the range of cosmic-ray energies. The flux for the lowest energies (yellow zone) is mainly attributed to solar cosmic rays, intermediate energies (blue) to galactic cosmic rays, and highest energies (purple) to extragalactic cosmic rays.

There is "a correlation between the arrival directions of cosmic rays with energy above 6 x 10¹⁹ electron volts and the positions of active galactic nuclei (AGN) lying within ~75 megaparsecs."

From the Wikipedia article Ultra-high-energy cosmic ray: "T]he Oh-My-God particle [was] observed on the evening of 15 October 1991 over Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. Its observation was a shock to astrophysicists, who estimated its energy to be approximately 3×1020
 eV(50 joules)—in other words, a subatomic particle with kinetic energy equal to that of a baseball (142 g or 5 oz) traveling at 100 km/h (60 mph)."

"It was most probably a proton with a speed very close to the speed of light, so close, in fact, [(1 − 5×10−24
) × c], that in a year-long race between light and the cosmic ray, the ray would fall behind only 46 nanometers (5×10−24
light-years), or 0.15 femtoseconds (1.5×10−16
 s)."

Neutron astronomy

The image shows the hydrogen concentrations on the Moon detected by the Lunar Prospector. Credit: NASA.

Around EeV (10¹⁸ eV) energies, there may be associated ultra high energy neutrons "observed in anisotropic clustering ... because of the relativistic neutrons boosted lifetime." “[A]t E_n = 10²⁰ eV, [these neutrons] are flying a Mpc, with their directional arrival (or late decayed proton arrival) ... more on-line toward the source.” From “neutron (and anti-neutron) life-lengths (while being marginal or meaningless at tens of Mpcs)", the growth of their half-lives with energy may naturally explain an associated, showering neutrino halo.

Fairly large fluxes of neutrons have been observed during solar flares such as that of November 12, 1960, with a flux of 30-70 neutrons per cm^-2 s^-1.

At right is the result of an all Moon survey by the Lunar Prospector using an onboard neutron spectrometer (NS). Cosmic rays impacting the lunar surface generate neutrons which in turn lose much of their energy in collisions with hydrogen atoms trapped within the Moon's surface. Some of these thermal neutrons collide with the helium atoms within the NS to yield an energy signature which is detected and counted. The NS aboard the Lunar Prospector has a surface resolution of 150 km.

Proton astronomy

"Proton astronomy should be possible; it may also provide indirect information on inter-galactic magnetic fields."

Proton astronomy per se often consists of directly or indirectly detecting the protons and deconvoluting a spatial, temporal, and spectral distribution.

"The third largest solar proton event in the past thirty years took place during July 14-16, 2000, and had a significant impact on the earth's atmosphere."

Beta particle astronomy

From the Wikipedia article beta particle: "Beta particles are high-energy, high-speed electrons or positrons".

Notation: let β⁻ designate an unbound electron in motion.

Notation: let β⁺ designate an unbound positron in motion.

Electron astronomy

Although electron astronomy is usually not recognized as a formal branch of astronomy, the measurement of electron fluxes help to understand a variety of natural phenomena.

Particles such as electrons are used as tracers of cosmic magnetic fields. "From a plasma-physics point of view, the particles represent the correct way to identify magnetic field lines." "The suprathermal electrons in the solar wind and in solar particle events have excellent properties for this application: they move rapidly, they remain tightly bound to their field lines, and they may arrive "scatter-free" even at low energies, and from deep in the solar atmosphere (Lin 1985)." These electrons "provide remote-sensing observations of distant targets in the heliosphere - the Sun, the Moon, Jupiter, and various heliospheric structures." ""[E]lectron astronomy" has an interesting future".

"A delta ray is characterized by very fast electrons produced in quantity by alpha particles or other fast energetic charged particles knocking orbiting electrons out of atoms. Collectively, these electrons are defined as delta radiation when they have sufficient energy to ionize further atoms through subsequent interactions on their own." per the Wikipedia article delta ray.

"The conventional procedure of delta-ray counting to measure charge (Powell, Fowler, and Perkins 1959), which was limited to resolution σ_z = 1-2 because of uncertainties of the criterion of delta-ray ranges, has been significantly improved by the application of delta-ray range distribution measurements for ¹⁶O and ³²S data of 200 GeV per nucleon (Takahashi 1988; Parnell et al. 1989)." Here, the delta-ray tracks in emulsion chambers have been used for "[d]irect measurements of cosmic-ray nuclei above 1 TeV/nucleon ... in a series of balloon-borne experiments".

Positron astronomy

"Positron astronomy is 30 years old but remains in its infancy."

"[P]ositron astronomy results ... have been obtained using the INTEGRAL spectrometer SPI". The positrons are not directly observed by the INTEGRAL space telescope, but "the 511 keV positron annihilation emission is".

Neutrino astronomy

This "neutrino image" of the Sun is by using the Super-Kamiokande to detect the neutrinos from nuclear fusion in the solar interior. Credit: R. Svoboda and K. Gordan (LSU), and NASA.

Neutrinos are hard to detect. The Super-Kamiokande, or "Super-K" is a large-scale experiment constructed in an unused mine in Japan to detect and study neutrinos. The image at right required 500 days worth of data to produce the "neutrino image" of the Sun. The image is centered on the Sun's position. This image covers a 90° x 90° octant of the sky (in right ascension and declination). The higher the brightness of the color, the larger is the neutrino flux.

Gamma-ray astronomy

This photograph shows Vela 5A/B satellites in their cleanroom. Credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory and NASA.

"Most astronomical gamma-rays are thought to be produced not from radioactive decay, however, but from the same type of accelerations of electrons, and electron-photon interactions, that produce X-rays in astronomy (but occurring at a higher energy in the production of gamma-rays)." per the Wikipedia article gamma-ray astronomy.

For gamma-ray astronomy, "the Vela satellites were the first devices ever to detect cosmic gamma ray bursts.", per the Wikipedia article on the Vela satellites.

From the Wikipedia article on the gamma-ray burst, "Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are flashes of gamma rays associated with extremely energetic explosions that have been observed in distant galaxies. They are the most luminous electromagnetic events known to occur in the universe. Bursts can last from ten milliseconds to several minutes, although a typical burst lasts 20–40 seconds. The initial burst is usually followed by a longer-lived "afterglow" emitted at longer wavelengths (X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, infrared, microwave and radio)."

X-ray astronomy

This image captures the core of Messier 31 (M31) in X-rays using the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Credit: S. Murray, M. Garcia, et al., Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA) NASA.

X-rays are electromagnetic radiation from a portion of the wavelength spectrum of about 5 to 8 nanometers (nm)s down to approximately 5 to 8 picometers (pm)s (ranging over three orders of magnitude).

An astronomical X-ray source may have one or more positional locations, plus associated error circles or boxes, from which incoming X-radiation (X-rays) has been detected.

Generally, a coronal cloud, a cloud composed of plasma, is usually associated with a star or other celestial or astronomical body, extending sometimes millions of kilometers into space, or thousands of light-years, depending on the associated body. The high temperature of the coronal cloud gives it unusual spectral features. These features have been traced to highly ionized atoms of elements such as iron which indicate a plasma's temperature in excess of 10⁶ K (MK) and associated emission of X-rays.

The importance of X-ray astronomy is exemplified in the use of an X-ray imager such as the one on GOES 14 for the early detection of solar flares, coronal mass ejections (CME)s and other X-ray generating phenomena that impact the Earth.

Ultraviolet astronomy

From the Wikipedia article ultraviolet astronomy: "Ultraviolet astronomy is generally used to refer to observations of electromagnetic radiation at ultraviolet wavelengths between approximately 10 and 320 nanometres".

There are many important spectral lines in these wavelengths. Among the most important are the Lyman lines, which are emitted or absorbed when an electron jumps to or from the innermost electron shell in a hydrogen atom. The first three (known as alpha, beta and gamma) have wavelengths of 121.52, 102.53 and 97.22 nm respectively.[2]

Since the Earth's atmosphere strongly absorbs ultraviolet light, especially the shorter wavelengths, ultraviolet astronomy is mostly conducted by satellites. Longer wavelengths can be detected from baloons launched into the stratosphere.

Optical astronomy

Optical astronomy includes those portions of ultraviolet, visual, and infrared astronomy that benefit from the use of quartz crystal or silica glass telescope components.

"Observations at these wavelengths generally use optical components (mirrors, lenses and solid state digital detectors).", per the former Wikipedia article optical astronomy.

"In popular culture optical astronomy encompasses a wide variety of observations via telescopes that are sensitive in the range of visible light. Scientists would call this visible-light astronomy. It includes imaging, where a picture of some sort is made of the object; photometry, where the amount of light coming from an object is measured, spectroscopy, where the distribution of that light with respect to its wavelength is measured, and polarimetry where the polarisation state of that light is measured.", from the former Wikipedia article optical astronomy.

Def. "[a]stronomy using infrared, visible and/or ultraviolet wavelengths", from Wiktionary optical astronomy, is called optical astronomy.

Def. "[a]n optical system in telescopes that reduces atmospheric distortion by dynamically measuring and correcting wavefront aberrations in real time, often by using a deformable mirror", from Wiktionary adaptive optics, is called adaptive optics.

"Already it has allowed ground-based telescopes to produce images with sharpness rivalling those from the Hubble Space Telescope. The technique is expected to revolutionize the future of ground-based optical astronomy."

From the Wikipedia article on the astronomical color index, "the color index is a simple numerical expression that determines the color of an object, which in the case of a star gives its temperature. To measure the index, one observes the magnitude of an object successively through two different filters, such as U and B, or B and V, where U is sensitive to ultraviolet rays, B is sensitive to blue light, and V is sensitive to visible (green-yellow) light (see also: UBV system). The set of passbands or filters is called a photometric system. The difference in magnitudes found with these filters is called the U-B or B–V color index, respectively. The smaller the color index, the more blue (or hotter) the object is. Conversely, the larger the color index, the more red (or cooler) the object is. This is a consequence of the logarithmic magnitude scale, in which brighter objects have smaller (more negative) magnitudes than dimmer ones. For comparison, the yellowish Sun has a B–V index of 0.656 ± 0.005, while the bluish Rigel has B–V –0.03 (its B magnitude is 0.09 and its V magnitude is 0.12, B–V = –0.03). The passbands most optical astronomers use are the UBVRI filters, where the U, B, and V filters are as mentioned above, the R filter passes red light, and the I filter passes infrared light. ... These filters were specified as particular combinations of glass filters and photomultiplier tubes."

Per the Wikipedia article telescope: "An optical telescope gathers and focuses light mainly from the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum (although some work in the infrared and ultraviolet)."

Visual astronomy

“I think everyone can conjure up a mental image of astronomers at every level and place in history, gazing through the eyepieces of their telescopes at sights far away - true visual astronomy.”

Color	Frequency	Wavelength
violet	668–789 THz	380–450 nm
blue	631–668 THz	450–475 nm
cyan	606–630 THz	476–495 nm
green	526–606 THz	495–570 nm
yellow	508–526 THz	570–590 nm
orange	484–508 THz	590–620 nm
red	400–484 THz	620–750 nm

From the Wikipedia article visible spectrum: "The visible spectrum is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to (can be detected by) the human eye. Electromagnetic radiation in this range of wavelengths is called visible light or simply light. A typical human eye will respond to wavelengths from about 390 to 750 nm. In terms of frequency, this corresponds to a band in the vicinity of 400–790 THz. A light-adapted eye generally has its maximum sensitivity at around 555 nm (540 THz), in the green region of the optical spectrum (see: luminosity function)."

There are several cases of astronomers who claimed that following a cataract operation, they could see shorter wavelengths than other people, slightly into the ultraviolet.

Violet astronomy

A discovery in violet astronomy is that carbon stars are enormously fainter in the violet region than expected from appropriate blackbody spectra."

Violet photographs of the planet Venus taken in 1927 “recorded two nebulous bright streaks, or bands, running ... approximately at right angles to the terminator” that may be from the upper atmosphere.

"The “Purple Haze” is a diffuse blueish/purple glow within a few arcseconds of the central star in HST images of the Homunculus (Morse et al. 1998; Smith et al. 2000, 2004). This emission is seen in excess of violet starlight scattered by dust, and the strength of the excess increases into the far UV (Smith et al. 2004; hereafter Paper I)."

Blue astronomy

Blue is the wavelength range 450-475 nm.

Stars are often referred to by their predominant color. For example, blue stragglers are found among the galactic halo globular clusters. Blue main sequence stars that are metal poor ([Fe/H] ≤ -1.0) are most likely very different in origin from blue stragglers.

"[G]round-based UV [and blue astronomy] is a powerful facility for [the] study of [the] chemical evolution of [the] early Galaxy." UV and B astronomy use radiation over the wavelength range 355.0-500.0 nm.

Cyan astronomy

Per Uranus: "Methane possesses prominent absorption bands in the visible and near-infrared (IR) making Uranus aquamarine or cyan in color."

Green astronomy

This is a 3D model of the Rosetta Spacecraft. The individual scientific payloads are highlighted in different colours. Credit: IanShazell.

Green objects or emission lines in the green portion of the visible spectrum are the subject of green astronomy.

"Carroll and McCormack (1972) in Dublin reported complex spectra in the blue and green wavelength regions of both FeH and FeD".

For elongated dust particles in cometary comas an investigation is performed at 535.0 nm (green) and 627.4 nm (red) peak transmission wavelengths of the Rosetta spacecraft's OSIRIS Wide Angle Camera broadband green and red filters, respectively. "In the green, the polarization of the pure silicate composition qualitatively appears a better fit to the shape of the observed polarization curves". "[B]ut they are characterized by a high albedo." The silicates used to model the cometary coma dust are olivene (Mg-rich is green) and the pyroxene, enstatite.

From the Wikipedia article Stardust (the spacecraft): "In December 2006, seven papers were published in the scientific journal, Science, discussing initial details of the sample analysis. Among the findings are: a wide range of organic compounds, including two that contain biologically usable nitrogen; indigenous aliphatic hydrocarbons with longer chain lengths than those observed in the diffuse interstellar medium; abundant amorphous silicates in addition to crystalline silicates such as olivine and pyroxene, proving consistency with the mixing of solar system and interstellar matter, previously deduced spectroscopically from ground observations; hydrous silicates and carbonate minerals were found to be absent, suggesting a lack of aqueous processing of the cometary dust; limited pure carbon (CHON) was also found in the samples returned; methylamine and ethylamine was found in the aerogel but was not associated with specific particles."

Yellow astronomy

There are yellow objects and emission lines in the yellow portion of the visible spectrum to introduce yellow astronomy.

During the limb flares of December 18, 1956, a coronal line at 569.4 nm, a yellow line, occurred at 1822 UTC, 1900 UTC, undiminished up to 20,000 km above the solar limb, and at 2226 UTC, is identified as Ca XV. "The coronal temperature was 4000000°." "The December 18, 1956, flare appears to have been a violent condensation of material from a dense coronal cloud above an active region."

Sodium produces two spectral lines known as D1 and D2, or the "sodium doublet". Their average wavelength, 589.3 nm, is often just called "D".

Orange astronomy

The orange system [in orange astronomy] is a number of emission lines very close together forming a band in the orange portion of the visible spectrum. These lines are usually associated with particular molecular species, including ScO, YO, and TiO.

The orange band from molecular CaCl is "observed in the spectra of many carbon stars."

The Fe VII emission line at 608.7 nm, "frequently observed in the spectra of astrophysical plasmas", has been detected in planetary nebulae, Seyfert galaxies, and quasars.

Red astronomy

AZ Cancri. Credit: SDSS Data Release 6.

With respect to the color 'red', there are studies of the redness of objects such as the red dwarf AZ Cancri shown in the visual image at right. Cool stars of spectral class M appear red; they are (depending on their size) referred to as "red giants" or "red dwarfs".

"Ideally all intrinsic colours should be found from unreddened stars. This is possible for dwarf and giant stars later than about A0 (Johnson, 1964) ... However, it cannot be used for stars of other spectral classes since they are all relatively infrequent in space, and generally reddened."

A very important wavelength in this region is the Balmer alpha line, 656.28 nm. It is emitted or absorbed by hydrogen atoms when electrons move between the second and third electron shells. Other Balmer lines, known as beta, gamma and delta, have wavelengths of 486.13, 434.05 and 410.17 nm respectively;[3] these are also in the visual range but are less important than the alpha line.

Infrared astronomy

This is a plot of Earth atmosphere transmittance in the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Credit: US Navy.

From the Wikipedia article infrared astronomy: "The wavelength of infrared light ranges from 0.75 to 300 micrometers. Infrared falls in between visible radiation, which ranges from 380 to 750 nanometers, and submillimeter waves."

"Infrared and optical astronomy are often practiced using the same telescopes, as the same mirrors or lenses are usually effective over a wavelength range that includes both visible and infrared light." per the Wikipedia article infrared astronomy.

"Far-infrared astronomy ... deals with objects visible in far-infrared radiation (extending from 30 µm towards submillimeter wavelengths around 450 µm)." from the Wikipedia article far-infrared astronomy. Also, from this same article: "Huge, cold clouds of gas and dust in our own galaxy, as well as in nearby galaxies, glow in far-infrared light. This is due to thermal radiation of interstellar dust contained in molecular clouds."

Visually dark infrared sources can be radiative cosmic dust, hydrogen gas such as an H II region (e.g. the Orion Nebula), an H I region of hydrogen, a molecular cloud, or a coronal cloud.

There are about 1,892,100 infrared (IR) objects in the SIMBAD database. Some of these like IRAS 20542+3631 are only IR objects. 1RXS J205444.6+361116 is an IR and an X-ray object only. These objects are visibly dark infrared sources. As is 2MASS J21074764+3802561, which is an IR and UV object only.

Submillimeter astronomy

The Wikipedia article submillimetre astronomy contains "Submillimetre astronomy or submillimeter astronomy (see spelling differences) is the branch of observational astronomy that is conducted at submillimetre wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. Astronomers place the submillimetre waveband between the far-infrared and microwave wavebands, typically taken to be between a few hundred micrometres and a millimetre." and "Using submillimetre observations, astronomers examine molecular clouds and dark cloud cores with a goal of clarifying the process of star formation from earliest collapse to stellar birth."

These wavelengths are sometimes called Terahertz radiation, since they have frequencies of the order of 1 THz.

Radio astronomy

This image has the radio image of Greg Taylor, NRAO, overlain on the X-ray image from Chandra. The radio source Hydra A originates in a galaxy near the center of the cluster. Optical observations show a few hundred galaxies in the cluster. Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO; Radio: NRAO.

Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum longer than infrared light. Radio waves have frequencies from 300 GHz to as low as 3 kHz, and corresponding wavelengths from 1 millimeter to 100 kilometers." from the Wikipedia article radio waves.

From the Wikipedia article microwave: "Microwaves, a subset of radio waves, have wavelengths ranging from as long as one meter to as short as one millimeter, or equivalently, with frequencies between 300 MHz (0.3 GHz) and 300 GHz. This broad definition includes both UHF and EHF (millimeter waves), and various sources use different boundaries. In all cases, microwave includes the entire SHF band (3 to 30 GHz, or 10 to 1 cm) at minimum, with RF engineering often putting the lower boundary at 1 GHz (30 cm), and the upper around 100 GHz (3 mm)."

Several satellites have served as observatories for radio waves and specifically for microwaves. The Radio Astronomy Explorer (RAE) 1 is launched into orbit on July 4, 1968, around Earth, while the RAE 2 is launched on June 10, 1973, around the Moon.

The COBE is launched into Earth orbit on November 18, 1989. The WMAP is launched on June 30, 2001, into orbit at the Lagrange 2 location. Both satellites have aboard detectors designed to perform microwave astronomy, as these are limited to only the microwave band.

Superluminal astronomy

When tachyonic gamma rays are discussed, they are referred to as tachyonic γ rays.

“Observed variations concerning the brightness distributions in four extragalactic radio sources were so rapid that the apparent transverse velocity of expansion is greater than the velocity of light.”

Chemistry

Each of the different forms of radiation often interact with chemicals in novel and sometimes surprising ways.

"Ultraviolet line spectrum measurements are used to discern the chemical composition, densities, and temperatures of the interstellar medium, and the temperature and composition of hot young stars." per the Wikipedia article ultraviolet astronomy.

Geography

All four of the HESS telescope array in Namibia are in operation at night. Credit: H.E.S.S. collaboration.

From the Wikipedia article high energy stereoscopic system (HESS): "High Energy Stereoscopic System or H.E.S.S. is a next-generation system of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACT) for the investigation of cosmic gamma rays in the 100 GeV and TeV energy range. The acronym was chosen in honour of Victor Hess, who was the first to observe cosmic rays.

The name also emphasizes two main features of the currently-operating installation, namely the simultaneous observation of air showers with several telescopes, under different viewing angles, and the combination of telescopes to a large system to increase the effective detection area for gamma rays. H.E.S.S. permits the exploration of gamma-ray sources with intensities at a level of a few thousandth parts of the flux of the Crab Nebula.

H.E.S.S. is located on the Cranz family farm, Göllschau, in Namibia, near the Gamsberg, an area well known for its excellent optical quality. The first of the four telescopes of Phase I of the H.E.S.S. project went into operation in Summer 2002; all four were operational in December 2003."

"The ideal submillimetre observing site is dry, cool, has stable weather conditions and is away from urban population centres. There are only a handful of such sites identified, they include Mauna Kea (Hawaii, USA), the Llano de Chajnantor Observatory on the Atacama Plateau (Chile), the South Pole, and Hanla (India). Comparisons show that all four sites are excellent for submillimetre astronomy, and of these sites Mauna Kea is the most established and arguably the most accessible. The Llano de Chajnantor Observatory site hosts the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX), the largest submillimetre telescope operating in the southern hemisphere, and the world's largest ground based astronomy project, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), an interferometer for submillimetre wavelength observations made of 54 12-metre and 12 7-metre radio telescopes. The Submillimeter Array (SMA) is another interferometer, located at Mauna Kea, consisting of eight 6-metre diameter radio telescopes. The largest existing submillimetre telescope, the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, is also located on Mauna Kea." per the Wikipedia article submillimeter astronomy.

History

The NRL Ionosphere 1 solar X-ray, ionosphere, and meteorite mission launches on a V-2 on September 29, 1949, from White Sands at 16:58 GMT and reached 151.1 km. Credit: Naval Research Laboratory.

From X-ray astronomy: "The beginning of the search for X-ray sources above the Earth's atmosphere is August 5, 1948, at 12:07 GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). As part of Project Hermes a US Army (formerly German) V-2 rocket number 43 is launched from White Sands Proving Grounds, launch complex (LC) 33, to an altitude of 166 km. This is "the first detection of solar X-rays.""

From the Wikipedia article infrared astronomy: "Infrared astronomy began in the 1830s, a few decades after the discovery of infrared light by William Herschel in 1800."

"The initial detection of radio waves from an astronomical object was made in the 1930s, when Karl Jansky observed radiation coming from the Milky Way." per the Wikipedia article radio astronomy.

Mathematics

Mathematics is involved in many ways to help describe the entities or objects used to model radiation astronomy results.

Usually, in mathematical astronomy, a number is associated with a dimension or aspect of an entity. For example, the Earth is 1.50 x 10⁸ km on average from the Sun. Kilometer (km) is a dimension and 1.50 x 10⁸ is a number.

Def. "[t]he study of the dimensions of ... quantities; used to obtain information about large complex systems, and as a means of checking ... equations", after Wiktionary dimensional analysis, is called dimensional analysis.

"Olivines are described by Mg_2yFe_2-2ySiO₄, with y ∈ [0, 1]." Substituting values for y from 0 to 1 produce ideal compositions from forsterite Mg₂SiO₄ to fayalite Fe₂SiO₄. "Amorphous olivine with y = 0.5 and crystalline olivine with y = 0.95 were taken into account for the olivine component." as best fits to observed data.

Physics

The physics of radiation astronomy consists of the emission of radiation by a source and the detection of this radiation by devices available to the astronomer. Astrophysics at its simplest is the application of laboratory physics, i.e., physics demonstrated in a laboratory and described with logical laws, to natural astronomical entities. This is done to understand these astronomical entities, their origin, history, and current constitution.

Detection

From astronomy: radiation "[a]stronomy likely started with visual astronomy. Visual refers to that portion of the electromagnetic spectrum called the visible spectrum. Probing the sky with additional portions of this spectrum is difficult as the atmosphere absorbs over many portions." This absorption is illustrated by the diagram below.

The electromagnetic transmittance, or opacity, of the Earth's atmosphere is indicated on the right vertical scale. Credit: NASA and Mysid.

"To overcome the limitations of observing in portions on either side of the visual, telescopes and spectrometers are lofted above the atmosphere for short times on board sounding rockets and balloons. Longer observing times are available with satellites placed into orbit around the Earth, the Sun, or other solar system bodies." per astronomy.

Emission

"Alpha decay is characterized by the emission of an alpha particle, a ⁴He nucleus. The mode of this decay causes the parent nucleus to decrease by two protons and two neutrons. This type of decay follows the relation:

${}_Z^A\!X\to {}_{Z-2}^{A-4}\!Y+ {}_4^2\alpha$ "

stated in the Wikipedia article Radioanalytical chemistry.

"Neutron activation is the process in which neutron radiation induces radioactivity in materials, and occurs when atomic nuclei capture free neutrons, becoming heavier and entering excited states. The excited nucleus often decays immediately by emitting particles such as neutrons, protons, or alpha particles. The neutron capture, even after any intermediate decay, often results in the formation of an unstable activation product. Such radioactive nuclei can exhibit half-lives ranging from small fractions of a second to many years." per the Wikipedia article neutron activation.

The Wikipedia article proton emission states "Proton emission (also known as proton radioactivity) is a type of radioactive decay in which a proton is ejected from a nucleus. Proton emission can occur from high-lying excited states in a nucleus following a beta decay, in which case the process is known as beta-delayed proton emission, or can occur from the ground state (or a low-lying isomer) of very proton-rich nuclei, in which case the process is very similar to alpha decay."

"Beta decay is characterized by the emission of a neutrino and a negatron which is equivalent to an electron. This process occurs when a nucleus has an excess of neutrons with respect to protons, as compared to the stable isobar. This type of transition converts a neutron into a proton; similarly, a positron is released when a proton is converted into a neutron. These decays follows the relation:

${}_Z^A\!X\to {}_{Z+1}^A\!Y+ \bar{\nu} + \beta^-$
${}_Z^A\!X\to {}_{Z-1}^A\!Y+ \nu + \beta^+$ "

also stated in the Wikipedia article Radioanalytical chemistry, which includes:

This diagram illustrates part of the concept behind Bremsstrahlung electromagnetic radiation. Credit: Trex2001.

"Gamma ray emission is follows the previously discussed modes of decay when the decay leaves a daughter nucleus in an excited state. This nucleus is capable of further de-excitation to a lower energy state by the release of a photon. This decay follows the relation:

${}^A\!X^* \to {}^A\!Y + \gamma$ "

Generation of electromagnetic radiation can occur whenever charged particles pass within certain distances of each other without being in fixed orbits, the accelerations (or decelerations) may give off the radiation. This is partly illustrated by the diagram at right where an electron has its course altered by near passage by a positive particle. Bremsstrahlung radiation also occurs when two electrons or other similarly charged particles pass close enough to deflect, slow down, or speed up at least one of the particles.

Bremsstrahlung includes synchrotron and cyclotron radiation.

When high-energy radiation bombards materials, the excited atoms within emit characteristic "secondary" (or fluorescent) radiation.

Planetary science

"Energetic photons, ions and electrons from the solar wind, together with galactic and extragalactic cosmic rays, constantly bombard surfaces of planets, planetary satellites, dust particles, comets and asteroids." "[I]nterplanetary space ... is a stormy and sometimes very violent environment permeated by energetic particles and radation constantly emanating from the Sun."

Each of the astronomical objects that constitute planetary science emits, reflects, or fluoresces radiation that is observed and analyzed.

Science

From X-ray astronomy: "An astronomical X-ray source catalog or catalogue is a list or tabulation of astronomical objects that are X-ray sources, typically grouped together because they share a common type, morphology, origin, means of detection, or method of discovery. Astronomical X-ray source catalogs are usually the result of an astronomical survey of some kind, often performed using an X-ray astronomical observatory in orbit around Earth."

• "Distribution and Variability of Cosmic X-Ray Sources", published on April 1, 1967, describes 35 astronomical X-ray sources detected by sounding rocket launched with an X-ray detector on board by the X-ray astronomy group at the Naval Research Laboratory in the United States.
• "The fourth Uhuru catalog of X-ray sources", contains 339 sources observed over the entire active period of the satellite, but not necessarily the earlier designation. It does not contain actual dates of observation for any sources. Sources detected during the final observation period from August 27, 1973, to January 12, 1974, are prefixed with "4U".
• "The Ariel V /3 A/ catalogue of X-ray sources. II - Sources at high galactic latitude |b| > 10°", contains sources with high galactic latitudes and includes some sources observed by HEAO 1, Einstein, OSO 7, SAS 3, Uhuru, and earlier, mainly rocket, observations.

Technology

This diagram illustrates a special version of a "black body" (instrument), used for defining the luminous intensity unit, before its current scientific International Standard (SI) definition. Credit: Lex Tollenaar.

Per the Wikipedia article on black-body radiation, “Black-body radiation is the type of electromagnetic radiation within or surrounding a body in thermodynamic equilibrium with its environment, or emitted by a black body (an opaque and non-reflective body) held at constant, uniform temperature. The radiation has a specific spectrum and intensity that depends only on the temperature of the body.”

This spectrum of X-rays is emitted by an X-ray tube with a rhodium target, operated at 60 kV. The continuous curve is due to bremsstrahlung, and the spikes are characteristic K lines for rhodium. Credit: LinguisticDemographer.

From the Wikipedia article on bremsstrahlung, “In an X-ray tube, electrons are accelerated in a vacuum by an electric field and shot into a piece of metal called the "target". X-rays are emitted as the electrons slow down (decelerate) in the metal. The output spectrum consists of a continuous spectrum of X-rays, with additional sharp peaks at certain energies (see graph on right). The continuous spectrum is due to bremsstrahlung, while the sharp peaks are characteristic X-rays associated with the atoms in the target. For this reason, bremsstrahlung in this context is also called continuous X-rays.”

Beam of electrons are moving in a circle in a magnetic field (cyclotron motion). Lighting is caused by excitation of atoms of gas in a bulb. Credit: Marcin Białek.

“A cyclotron is a compact type of particle accelerator in which charged particles in a static magnetic field are travelling outwards from the center along a spiral path and get accelerated by radio frequency electromagnetic fields. ... Cyclotrons accelerate charged particle beams using a high frequency alternating voltage which is applied between two "D"-shaped electrodes (also called "dees"). An additional static magnetic field $B$ is applied in perpendicular direction to the electrode plane, enabling particles to re-encounter the accelerating voltage many times at the same phase. To achieve this, the voltage frequency must match the particle's cyclotron resonance frequency

$f = \frac{q B}{2\pi m}$,

with the relativistic mass m and its charge q. This frequency is given by equality of centripetal force and magnetic Lorentz force. The particles, injected near the center of the magnetic field, increase their kinetic energy only when recirculating through the gap between the electrodes; thus they travel outwards along a spiral path.”, from the Wikipedia article on the cyclotron.

Per the Wikipedia article on cyclotron radiation, “Cyclotron radiation is electromagnetic radiation emitted by moving charged particles deflected by a magnetic field. The Lorentz force on the particles acts perpendicular to both the magnetic field lines and the particles' motion through them, creating an acceleration of charged particles that causes them to emit radiation (and to spiral around the magnetic field lines). ... Cyclotron radiation is emitted by all charged particles travelling through magnetic fields, however, not just those in cyclotrons. Cyclotron radiation from plasma in the interstellar medium or around black holes and other astronomical phenomena is an important source of information about distant magnetic fields. The power (energy per unit time) of the emission of each electron can be calculated using:

${-dE \over dt}={\sigma_t B^2 V^2 \over c \mu_o}$

where E is energy, t is time, $\sigma_t$ is the Thomson cross section (total, not differential), B is the magnetic field strength, V is the velocity perpendicular to the magnetic field, c is the speed of light and $\mu_o$ is the permeability of free space.”.

This image shows synchrotron light emitted from the National Synchrotron Light Source. Credit: Deglr6328.

From the Wikipedia article on the synchrotron, “A synchrotron is a particular type of cyclic particle accelerator originating from the cyclotron in which the guiding magnetic field (bending the particles into a closed path) is time-dependent, being synchronized to a particle beam of increasing kinetic energy. The synchrotron is one of the first accelerator concepts that enable the construction of large-scale facilities, since bending, beam focusing and acceleration can be separated into different components. ... Unlike in a cyclotron, synchrotrons are unable to accelerate particles from zero kinetic energy; one of the obvious reasons for this is that its closed particle path would be cut by a device that emits particles. Thus, schemes were developed to inject pre-accelerated particle beams into a synchrotron. The pre-acceleration can be realized by a chain of other accelerator structures like a linac, a microtron or another synchrotron; all of these in turn need to be fed by a particle source comprising a simple high voltage power supply, typically a Cockcroft-Walton generator.”

“[T]he synchrotron functions are defined as follows (for x ≥ 0):

• First synchrotron function

$F(x) = x \int_x^\infty K_{\frac{5}{3}}(t)\,dt$

• Second synchrotron function

$G(x) = x K_{\frac{2}{3}}(x)$

where K_j is the modified Bessel function of the second kind. The function F(x) is shown on the right, as the output from a plot in Mathematica.

First synchrotron function, F(x)

In astrophysics, x is usually a ratio of frequencies, that is, the frequency over a critical frequency (critical frequency is the frequency at which most synchrotron radiation is radiated). This is needed when calculating the spectra for different types of synchrotron emission. It takes a spectrum of electrons (or any charged particle) generated by a separate process (such as a power law distribution of electrons and positrons from a constant injection spectrum) and converts this to the spectrum of photons generated by the input electrons/positrons.”, per the Wikipedia article on the synchrotron function.

See also

• Big bang
• Chemistry glossary
• Dominant group/Astronomy
• Dominant group/Physics
• Dominant group/Planetary science
• Electromagnetic radiation
• Infrared Spectroscopy
• Lofting technology
• Principles of Radiation Astronomy
• Radioactivity
• Radioactivity basics
• Stellar evolution
• The Big Bang Theory
• Theoretical astronomy
• Theoretical radiation astronomy

Further reading

• Eberhard Haug & Werner Nakel (2004). The elementary process of Bremsstrahlung. River Edge NJ: World Scientific. p. Scientific lecture notes in physics, vol. 73. ISBN 9812385789. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=v4FMtIwTri8C&dq=bremsstrahlung+haug&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=THjay1eeFA&sig=aHe-xMFwT8jxhpAGJHDnxKC6Jjc#PPA29,M1. 
• Vedrenne, G and Atteia, J.-L. (2009). Gamma-Ray Bursts: The brightest explosions in the Universe. Springer. ISBN 978-3540390855. http://books.google.com/books?id=jZHSdrvzz0gC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false. 

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