Observatories and Telescopes Mauna Kea Hawaii 14 000
Observatories and Telescopes Mauna Kea, Hawaii (14, 000 ft) Why do telescopes need to be located at high altitude and dry climate ?
Telescopes – Mirrors and Lenses • Telescopes are basically a large mirror (reflecting) or a lens (refracting) • Consider the human eye as ‘telescope’ • What determines the “power” of a telescope ?
Retina Collecting Area Eye could be a “refracting” telescope, but the size is very small Lens
Collecting Area = Power • A = p ( d / 2)2 ; d – diameter • Diameter of the telescope indicates its power • Largest optical telescope: Keck 1 and 2, each with a mirror of 10 m diameter • Large Binocular Telescope (LBT): Ohio State, Arizona, Germany, Italy Two 8. 4 m mirrors in a binocular shaped mount • HST – Only 2. 4 m, but with a huge advantage • How much more powerful than HST is the Keck (neglecting that advantage) ? • New 30 m telescope on the drawing board
Large Binocular Telescope Mount Graham, Arizona
Large Telescopes Thirty-meter class telescopes (TMT) under construction
Objective and eyepiece
Telescope Objective and Eyepiece • The main function of a telescope is to collect as much light as possible from the source, NOT to magnify an image • Need bigger and bigger telescopes! • The main mirror or lens of a telescope is called the OBJECTIVE • The Eye-Piece (small lens or mirror) is to magnify the image after it is formed from the light collected by the objective (simply change the eyepiece to magnify image)
Properties of Light and Telescopes • Reflection Mirrors • Refraction Lenses
Simple Refracting Telescope Convex lens Focus Objective Lens Secondary Lens (Eyepiece)
Spheres of light from distant source parallel rays at the observer
Different speeds in different media Bending or Refraction
Refraction of light beam Normal (Perpendicular) Light bends towards the perpendicular going into denser medium, and vice-versa
Refraction by prism and lens
Refractive Index • Speed of light slows down in a medium ! • The ratio of the speed of light in vacuum to the speed in a medium c/v=m ‘mu’ is called the Refractive Index • Material R. I. Water 1. 33 Glass 2. 6 • Bending of light (diffraction) depends on R. I of the medium and wavelength of light l
Chromatic Aberration: Different colors at different focus Chromatic aberration affects refracting telescopes; therefore use reflecting telescopes in modern observatories
Law of Reflection: Angle i = Angle r
REFLECTING TELESCOPES Prime Focus Secondary Mirror Primary Mirror Cassegrain Focus
Reflecting Concave Mirror
Telescopic Configurations
Spherical and Parabolic Mirrors
Wavelength range of observatories and telescopes • Ground based telescopes can measure - Visible (4000 -7000 A), - Near-IR (0. 7 -2 microns), 1 mm = 10000 A - Radio ( ~ 1 mm or greater) All other wavelengths blocked out by the atmosphere • Space based observatories for Gamma ray, X-ray, UV, and Far-IR astronomy
Visible (Optical) and Radio “Windows” in the Atmosphere
Radar and Radio Astronomy • Radio telescopes (like huge satellite dish) collect radio waves from astronomical objects • Radar telescope = Transmitter + Radio Telescope • Doppler Radar Transmits radio waves towards an object and collects reflected radio waves; spread in signal shows distance and velocity • Largest radio telescope is the Arecibo, 1000 ft diameter, in Puerto Rico • No longer! 1600 ft diameter in China
Radio Telescope
Aracebo Radio Telescope(Puerto Rico)
Rotational Speed and Doppler Shift (Line profile broadens on both the blue and red side) Doppler Radar
Hubble Space Telescope
Ground and HST images Unresolved Resolved
Visible and IR images of Saturn
Gamma-Ray View of the Sky Each wavelength band presents a different and mutually complementary view
Telescope and Instruments
Intensities of Lines in Absorption Spectra: Atoms absorb energy Emission spectra are a set of bright lines: atoms emit energy
Observing Planets and Moons
Spectra of Titan (Moon of Saturn): Methane (CH 4)
- Slides: 35