ASTR 114 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Light Pollution, Roygbiv, Twinking

• School: Binghamton University
• Department: Astronomy
• Course: ASTR 114
• Professor: Christopher A.Taylor

Document Summary

The best ground-based sites for astronomical observing are: calm (not too windy, high (less atmosphere to see through, dark (far from city lights, dry (few cloudy nights) The best observing sites are atop remote mountains. Light pollution: the scattering of human-made light in the atmosphere. Light pollution poses a threat to ground-based telescopes, because it reduces the amount of space they can see. Turbulent air flow in earth"s at(cid:373)osphere distorts our (cid:448)ie(cid:449) of spa(cid:272)e, (cid:272)ausi(cid:374)g stars to appear to t(cid:449)i(cid:374)kle: atmospheric blurring is due to air movements. Adaptive optics: telescopes have been created that can track atmospheric changes with a laser, and can adjust the mirrors in real time: this helps reduce the amount of twinkling that ground based telescopes record. Tur(cid:271)ule(cid:374)(cid:272)e o(cid:374)ly affe(cid:272)ts teles(cid:272)opes that are o(cid:374) earth"s surfa(cid:272)e; (cid:271)y putti(cid:374)g teles(cid:272)opes i(cid:374)to spa(cid:272)e, (cid:449)e (cid:272)a(cid:374) get sharper images.