Which type of telescope detects radiation?

Answer 1

Because different objects give out electromagnetic radiation at different frequencies. Some objects are very easily viewed in the visible spectrum, others are essentially invisible in that spectrum. Also, some types of electromagnetic radiation can more easily penetrate dust and other debris between the source and Earth. Visible light is very easily blocked by dust, but x-rays for example can pass through them pretty much intact.

Answer 2

Radio telescopes monitor radio signals from outer space. The signals are analysed and classified by type to determine the nature of the source and widen our knowledge of astrophysics and cosmology.

Answer 3

Huge, dish shaped radio telescopes pick up radio waves from space. The dish gathers the signals and reflect them onto an aerial. The aerial sends electrical signals to a receiver, then to a computer, which converts them into a false-colour radio picture.

Answer 4

A radio telescope will, most of the time, look like a parabolic dish similar to what you would receive satellite TV on, but larger. The largest radio telescope is the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. It's 1,000 feet across.

Answer 5

Most types of telescope focus radiation. All but one do not actually detect it. The detection of radiation is undertaken by a sensor (a camera or the human eye) at the focus of the telescope.

The exception is a gamma ray detector which, as high energy gamma rays can not be focused, captures the effect that the gamma ray produces when it hits things (it causes a cascade in the atmosphere). A gamma ray detector may be able to tell you in which direction a gamma ray came from and how energetic it was but it can not actually form a image of the gamma ray source.

Answer 6

Radio telescopes allow you to see energy in the radio band below heat radiation. This gives a picture of lower energy activity in the universe. Optical telescopes allow you to see light energy or optical energy. X=ray telescopes allow you to see X-Ray energy activity.

Answer 7

Visible light only occupies a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum. In the last 150 years people have discovered and put to use a large part of that spectrum. We use it to take x-rays, treat cancer, communicate with satellites, communicate with submarines, and for many other uses. A number of heavenly bodies give off radiation in other parts of the spectrum from the visible part. Just like we can use x-rays but not visible light to discover about problems with human bones, we can use x-rays to discover a lot of information about the universe that we can not discover with visible light. X-rays enable us to see through some objects that block visible light.

Answer 8

Microwave telescopes can allow us to see the sky in microwave frequencies. There are microwave sources that are invisible to optical telescopes, and there may be gas or dust clouds that block visible light but allow some microwaves to penetrate. A breathtaking example of the use of a microwave telescope is seen in the microwave mapping of the sky.

As we understand it, the universe began with the Big Bang, which was that massive outrush of energy at the beginning of time. Almost everywhere in space we see microwave radiation, and that microwave radiation is the "echo" of the Big Bang. It's called cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB), and its discovery won the Nobel Prize for a pair of investigators.

Answer 9

Very shortly after the first radio waves from space were detected, astronomers from

learned institutions all over the world met in convention to decide what to call the

equipment that would henceforth be used to work with this mysterious, unearthly

radiation. After the early, selfish, nationalistic suggestions were defeated, the

convention was split almost 50/50 into two competing groups, aligned in favor of

the two finalists. One side of the convention was convinced that the new instrument

should be referred to as the Penzias, while the other half were just as firmly insistent

that it should be called the Jansky-scope. After weeks of wrangling, bargaining, deadlock,

and bar tabs that the home institutions would no longer subsidize, the convention

collapsed in upon itself out of sheer exhaustion. Neither side had managed to budge

the other side so much as a single Ångstrøm in its direction in weeks, and the realization

began to dawn on them that they never would. Like unto Sir Isaac's gravitation itself,

the forces were precisely equal in both directions, and if the factions continued to strive,

they could expect nothing other than to circle their mutual center into eternity. It was

at that point that the convention came to its senses, the several representatives of

the distant and unrelated nations decided to surrender their non-negotiables, and to

compromise a little for heaven's sakes. They all gathered at the bar one last time, to

raise a toast to each other and to their unanimous agreement on the one designation

for the new radio-wave device to which not one of them had any objection, and it was

from that moment until our day that the telescope used to detect radio waves from the

stars and from the space between the stars has been known as: the Radio Telescope.

Answer 10

A radio telescope is designed to detect the energy emitted by the transitions of molecules as they shift from one state to another. During these transitions, a distinct frequency is emitted which is unique to that particular molecule. By listening to (or, more accurately, "watching," since the radio spectrum is essentially long wavelengths of light) these frequencies, an observer is able to confirm the presence of specific types of matter in very remote solar systems, nebulae, and other cosmic bodies.

A radio telescope typically has nothing to do with the search for intelligent extraterrestrial life.