Portal:Radiation astronomy/Lesson/10

First infrared source in Crux

Main article: Radiation astronomy/First infrared source in Crux

This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the nebula nicknamed "the Dragonfish". Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Toronto.

The first infrared source in Crux is unknown.

The field of infrared astronomy is the result of observations and theories about infrared, or infrared-ray sources detected in the sky above.

The first astronomical infrared source discovered may have been the Sun.

But, infrared rays from the Sun are intermingled with other colors so that the Sun may appear yellow-white rather than infrared.

The early use of sounding rockets and balloons to carry infrared, optical, or visual detectors high enough may have detected infrared-rays from the Sun as early as the 1940s.

This is a lesson in map reading, coordinate matching, and searching. It is also a project in the history of infrared astronomy looking for the first astronomical infrared source discovered in the constellation of Crux.

Nearly all the background you need to participate and learn by doing you've probably already been introduced to at a secondary level and perhaps even a primary education level.

Some of the material and information is at the college or university level, and as you progress in finding infrared sources, you'll run into concepts and experimental tests that are an actual search.