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Lecture

UV, X-ray and Gamma-ray Telescopes

Description

This lecture covers the functioning and applications of UV, X-ray, and gamma-ray telescopes, including topics such as X-ray mirror technology, observations, and multi-wavelength observations of celestial objects. It also discusses the principles of coded mask detectors and showcases examples of telescopes like Chandra X-ray observatory, ESA XMM observatory, and Swift observatory.

In MOOC

The Radio Sky II: Observational Radio Astronomy

Official source

Related concepts (32)

X-ray tube

An X-ray tube is a vacuum tube that converts electrical input power into X-rays. The availability of this controllable source of X-rays created the field of radiography, the imaging of partly opaque objects with penetrating radiation. In contrast to other sources of ionizing radiation, X-rays are only produced as long as the X-ray tube is energized. X-ray tubes are also used in CT scanners, airport luggage scanners, X-ray crystallography, material and structure analysis, and for industrial inspection.

Compton Gamma Ray Observatory

The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO) was a space observatory detecting photons with energies from 20 keV to 30 GeV, in Earth orbit from 1991 to 2000. The observatory featured four main telescopes in one spacecraft, covering X-rays and gamma rays, including various specialized sub-instruments and detectors. Following 14 years of effort, the observatory was launched from Space Shuttle Atlantis during STS-37 on April 5, 1991, and operated until its deorbit on June 4, 2000.

X-ray generator

An X-ray generator is a device that produces X-rays. Together with an X-ray detector, it is commonly used in a variety of applications including medicine, X-ray fluorescence, electronic assembly inspection, and measurement of material thickness in manufacturing operations. In medical applications, X-ray generators are used by radiographers to acquire x-ray images of the internal structures (e.g., bones) of living organisms, and also in sterilization. An X-ray generator generally contains an X-ray tube to produce the X-rays.

Telescope

A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally it was an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observe distant objects – an optical telescope. Nowadays, the word "telescope" is defined as wide range of instruments capable of detecting different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, and in some cases other types of detectors.

Celestial sphere

In astronomy and navigation, the celestial sphere is an abstract sphere that has an arbitrarily large radius and is concentric to Earth. All objects in the sky can be conceived as being projected upon the inner surface of the celestial sphere, which may be centered on Earth or the observer. If centered on the observer, half of the sphere would resemble a hemispherical screen over the observing location. The celestial sphere is a conceptual tool used in spherical astronomy to specify the position of an object in the sky without consideration of its linear distance from the observer.

Related lectures (33)

Untitled

Telescope sites: Radio Wavelengths MOOC: The Radio Sky II: Observational Radio Astronomy

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Concept of a Telescope MOOC: The Radio Sky II: Observational Radio Astronomy

Covers the principle and types of telescopes, historical examples, resolution factors, and interferometers.

X and Gamma-ray Detectors

Explores X and gamma-ray imaging devices, semiconductor detectors, and charge transport applications in detectors.

Gamma and Neutron Radiography