Astronomy! Emily Cunningham Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris
What do astronomers study?
1. Planets
2. Stars Image: NASA BLACK HOLE!SUPERNOVA! (NASA)
3. Galaxies Andromeda Galaxy (M31). Image: NASA
4. Clusters of Galaxies Abell Cluster of Galaxies. Image: NASA
5. The Universe: Cosmology
How do astronomers study the universe?
How do astronomers study? 1. Observations: Telescopes 2. Theory: Computer Simulations and Models
Observations 1. Ground-Based Kitt Peak National Observatory, Arizona, United States
Observations 1. Ground-Based Keck Telescopes: Mauna Kea, Hawaii, United States
Observations 2. Space-Based Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
Thierry Cohen,
2. Theory: Computer Simulations!
The Speed of Light Speed of light: c = 3.00 x 10 8 m/s Because light has a finite speed, the light that reaches us from distant objects was emitted many (i.e. millions or billions) years ago This means, in astronomy, looking far away is the same as looking back in time!
Night vision goggles can see infrared! X-rays pass through your skin but not your bones!
Pinwheel Galaxy: Visible Light (Hubble Space Telescope)
Pinwheel Galaxy: Infrared (Spitzer Space Telescope)
Pinwheel Galaxy: X-Rays (Chandra X-Ray Observatory)
Pinwheel Galaxy: Infrared + Visible + X-ray
Elliptical Galaxies
Image: Hubble Space Telescope