PHYS 183 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Charge-Coupled Device, Diffraction, Chromatic Aberration
Document Summary
3 types of astronomical data (limitation due to large distances and extreme conditions): images- pictures of the sky. They can determine position (astrometry- measurement of the position of objects) and morphology (structure, evolution): time series- variations in the intensity or other property of a celestial signal with time. They can measure motions (dynamics), rotation, and pulsation and can study instabilities (sunspots and x-ray bursts). Pulses correspond to the rotation of a neutron star: spectra- intensity of light as a function of color. It determines temperature, composition, evolutionary state and motion toward and away from us. Absorption lines superimposed on the solar continuous determines the composition of the sun. Newton was the first to show that white light is really a spectrum of many colors. Light is part wave and part particle called a photon. We characterize wave nature by wavelength ( ) and we characterize particle nature by energy (e).
