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Infrared Telescopes
Andrea, Scott, and Martín
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Infrared…wait what?!?!?
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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://www.iras.ucalgary.ca/~volk/crab_infrared_lg.gif
http://swtrekking.com/photo_gallery/images/stars.jpg
http://www.astr.tohoku.ac.jp/~tohru/AGgroup/arp220image.jpg
http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/ContentMedia/M16WF2.jpg
Clouds of Dust and Gas
• Some bodies of
matter in space are
hidden behind
huge clouds of
dust particles or
gas.
• Infrared
telescopes allow
scientists to view
these regions
much more easily
• These include the centers of galaxies and
clouds containing forming stars and planets.
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.ht
ml
• http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/about/index.s
html
• http://www.jach.hawaii.edu/JACpublic/UKI
RT/home.html