Chapter 6 Flashcards
(19 cards)
Refraction
the bending of light when it passes from one substance into another
Focal Plane
Where light from different directions comes into focus
Light-collecting area
Telescopes with a large collecting area can gather a greater amount of light in a shorter time
Angular resolution
Telescopes that are larger are capable of taking images with greater detail
Refracting Telescope
Focus light with lenses
(that are large and very heavy)
Reflecting Telescope
Focuses light with mirrors (have much greater diameters)
Imaging
Taking pictures of the sky
Spectroscopy
Breaking light into spectra
Time Monitoring
Measuring how light output varies with time
Astronomical Detectors
- Record forms of light our eyes can’t see
- combining different one color images to make a good full colored one
Spectrogram
The different wavelengths of light before they hit the detector
The best ground-based sites for astronomical observing are
- Calm
- High
- Dark
- Dry
Light Pollution
Scattering of human-made light in the atmosphere is a growing problem for astronomy
Satellite dish
a telescope for observing radio waves
Radio Telescope
like a giant mirror that reflects radio waves to a focus
Infrared/Ultra-violent Telescopes
Need to be above atmosphere to see all wavelengths
X-Ray Telescopes
- Must be above the atmosphere
- Requires special mirrors that focus x-ray photons through grazing bounces off the surface
Gamma-Ray Telescopes
to detect and resolve gamma rays from sources outside Earth’s atmosphere.
Interferometery
A technique for linking two or more telescopes so that they have the angular resolution of a single large one
- easiest w radio telescopes
