Your radio captures radio waves emitted by radio stations, bringing your favorite tunes. Radio waves are also emitted by stars and gases in space. Planets send out radio waves. The sun and Jupiter as well. The best-known use of radio waves is for communication; television, cellphones and radios all receive radio waves and convert them to mechanical vibrations in the speaker to create sound waves that can be heard. Radio waves have the longest wavelengths in the EM spectrum, according to NASA, ranging from about 1 millimeter (0.04 inches) to more than 62 miles. They also have the lowest frequencies, from about 3,000 cycles per second or 3 kilohertz (kHz) up to about 300 billion hertz, or 300 gigahertz (GHz). Outer space is teeming with radio sources. These include planets, stars, gas and dust clouds, galaxies, pulsars, and even black holes. These sources allow astronomers to learn about the motion and chemical composition of these sources as well as the processes that cause these emissions. According to Robert Patterson, a professor of astronomy at Missouri State University, astronomers use large radio telescopes to map cold neutral hydrogen clouds in galaxies. These clouds are of particular interest because they line up along the spiral arms of galaxies such as the Milky Way, allowing scientists to map the clouds' structure. A radio telescope "sees" the sky very differently than it appears in visible light, according to NASA. Instead of seeing point-like stars, such a telescope picks up distant pulsars, star-forming regions and supernova remnants. Radio telescopes can also detect quasars, which is short for quasi-stellar radio source. A quasar is an incredibly bright galactic core powered by a supermassive black hole. Quasars radiate energy broadly across the EM spectrum, but the name comes from the fact that the first quasars to be identified emit mostly radio energy. Quasars are very energetic; some emit 1,000 times as much energy as the entire Milky Way. However, most quasars are blocked from view in visible light by dust in their surrounding galaxies. The above picture is an image from a radio telescope and below is an image using visible light telescope. These instruments known as radio telescopes, have been developed as a result of the discovery that the center of our galaxy is a powerful emitter of electromagnetic radiation in the radio wavelength region. It was discovered in 1928-1932 by Karl G.Jansky of the ‘Bell Telephone Laboratories.’ Since Jansky’s discovery, many other celestial radio sources have been found. Radio astronomy is very important. Just recently China built the largest radio telescope in the world A Nimitz-class aircraft carrier could easily float in the 500 meter dish from bow to stern, with room to spare. The telescope called FAST will probe the universe at radio wavelengths, hunting for faint pulsars, mapping neutral hydrogen in distant galaxies, and search for signs of extraterrestrial communications and intelligence. “Once completed, FAST will lead the world for at least 10 to 20 years,” says director general and telescope designer Yan Jun (National Astronomical Observatories of China) in a recent press release.
Very impressive!
16 Comments
Deja
1/24/2017 03:40:39 pm
WOW! thats awesome
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sinjin
1/24/2017 03:42:28 pm
I Loved it. It was so cool
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jenna
1/24/2017 04:19:03 pm
wow that is very impressive
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1/24/2017 05:43:17 pm
Wow radio waves are so cool and the pics are cool!!:):):):):):):):):):)
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Caden
1/24/2017 06:51:52 pm
SO COOL!!!!
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addie J
1/24/2017 08:14:55 pm
Radio waves are super cool!
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Katelyn ashton
1/24/2017 08:42:03 pm
Radio waves are cool
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Paige
1/24/2017 08:57:34 pm
Wow radio waves are more interesting then I thought!
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Emmalee
1/24/2017 09:10:02 pm
WOW! Just wow.
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Kylie
1/24/2017 09:15:56 pm
I loved the pics they r so cool 😎
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Zane Miner
1/24/2017 10:52:31 pm
That telescope that china built is HUGE!!!!
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Liliana Bradford
1/25/2017 07:27:01 am
One day of Radio Emission is really big especially around the sun.
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Zaya
1/25/2017 07:27:09 am
Amazing!! 😉
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Avery
1/25/2017 08:47:09 am
That is cool!
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Zaya
1/26/2017 07:35:08 am
Sooooo cool!!!
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Mrs. TaylorI love science! Everything about the world is interesting and never boring. I love to study plants, animals, insects, and people. My favorite subjects are my students who are the most unique organisms on the planet! Categories |