02 - Telescopes
Dr. Niranjana K M
Department of Physics, RV College of Engineering
November 16, 2025
Contents
1 Refracting Telescopes 2
2 Reflecting Telescopes 3
2.1 Newtonian telescope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2 Cassegrain telescope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.3 Coudé telescope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3 Resolution and the Rayleigh Criterion 6
4 Aberrations 7
5 The Brightness of an Image and Focal Ratio 8
6 Adaptive Optics 9
7 Photographic Plates 10
8 CCD 11
9 Radio Telescopes 12
10 Spectral Flux Density 13
11 Large Apertures and Interferometry 14
12 Infrared, Ultraviolet, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Astronomy 15
12.1 Atmospheric Windows in the Electromagnetic Spectrum . . . . . . . . 15
12.2 Observing Above the Atmosphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
12.3 Infrared (IR) Astronomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
12.4 Ultraviolet (UV) Astronomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
12.5 X-ray Astronomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
12.6 Gamma-ray Astronomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1
1 Refracting Telescopes
Figure: A refracting telescope is composed of an objective lens and an eyepiece.
• The major optical component of a refracting telescope is the primary or objective
lens of focal length 𝑓obj .
• The purpose of the objective lens is to collect as much light as possible and with
the greatest possible resolution, bringing the light to a focus at the focal plane.
• A photographic plate or other detector may be placed at the focal plane to record
the image, or the image may be viewed with an eyepiece, which serves as a
magnifying glass.
• The eyepiece would be placed at a distance from the focal plane equal to its focal
length, 𝑓eye , causing the light rays to be refocused at infinity.
• The angular magnification produced by this arrangement of lenses can be
shown to be
𝑓obj
𝑚=
𝑓eye
• Viewing a large image requires a long objective focal length, in combination with
a short focal length for the eyepiece.
Practical limitations of refracting telescopes
• The illumination decreases with the square of the objective’s focal length. To
compensate for the diminished illumination, a larger-diameter objective is needed.
Unfortunately, significant practical limitations exist for the size of the objective
lens of a refracting telescope.
• Because light must pass through the objective lens, it is possible to support the
lens only from its edges. As a result, when the size and weight of the lens are
increased, deformation in its shape occurs because of gravity.
• Another problem related to size is the difficulty in constructing a lens that is
sufficiently free of defects. Since light must pass through the lens, its entire
volume must be nearly optically perfect. Furthermore, both surfaces of the lens
must be ground with great precision.
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• A mechanical problem also arises with long focal-length refractors. Due to the
long lever arm involved, placing a massive detector on the end of the telescope
will create a large amount of torque that requires compensation.
• The unique problem of chromatic aberration in lenses exists, a complication not
shared by mirrors.
Considering all of the challenges inherent in the design and construction of refracting
telescopes, the vast majority of all large modern telescopes are reflectors. The largest
refracting telescope in use today is at the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wis-
consin. It was built in 1897 and has a 40 in (1.02 m) objective with a focal length of
19.36 m.
2 Reflecting Telescopes
• By far the most common telescope type in astrophysical research nowadays is
the mirror telescope or reflector.
• As a light-collecting surface, it employs a mirror coated with a thin layer of
aluminum.
• The form of the mirror is usually parabolic.
• A parabolic mirror reflects all light rays entering the telescope parallel to the
main axis into the same focal point.
• The image formed at this point can be observed through an eyepiece or registered
with a detector.
2.1 Newtonian telescope
Figure: A Newtonian telescope.
• The idea of a reflector was described in 1663 by James Gregory. The first practical
reflector, however, was built by Isaac Newton. He guided the light perpendicu-
larly out from the telescope with a small flat mirror. Therefore the focus of the
image in such a system is called the Newton focus.
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• Of course, the presence of this secondary mirror does block some of the incoming
light from the primary, but if the ratio of the areas of the primary and secondary
is sufficiently large, the effect of the lost light can be minimized.
• A Newtonian telescope design suffers from the drawback that the eyepiece (or
detector) must be placed at a significant distance from the center of mass of the
telescope. If a massive detector were used, it would exert a significant torque on
the telescope.
2.2 Cassegrain telescope
Figure: The principle of a Cassegrain reflector. A concave (paraboloid) primary mirror
𝑀1 reflects the light rays parallel to the main axis towards the primary focus 𝑆1 . A
convex secondary mirror 𝑀2 (hyperboloid) reflects the rays back through a small hole
at the centre of the main mirror to the secondary focus 𝑆2 outside the telescope.
• A possibility is to bore a hole at the centre of the primary mirror and reflect
the rays into it with a small hyperbolic secondary mirror in the front end of the
telescope. In such a design, the rays meet in the Cassegrain focus.
• One can construct short telescopes with long focal lengths with this.
• Cassegrain systems are especially well suited for spectrographic, photometric
and other instruments, which can be mounted in the secondary focus, easily
accessible to the observer.
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2.3 Coudé telescope
Figure : The coudé system in this figure cannot be used for observations near the
celestial pole. More complex coudé systems usually have three flat mirrors after the
primary and secondary mirrors.
• More complicated arrangements use several mirrors to guide the light through
the declination axis of the telescope to a fixed coudé focus (from the French word
couder, to bend), which can even be situated in a separate room near the tele-
scope. The focal length is thus very long.
• The coudé focus is used mainly for accurate spectroscopy, since the large spec-
trographs can be stationary and their temperature can be held accurately con-
stant. Nowadays this can also be achieved by using optical fibers.
• A drawback is that much light is lost in the reflections in the several mirrors of
the coudé system. An aluminised mirror reflects about 80% of the light falling
on it.
Figure : Different locations of the focus in reflectors: primary focus, Newton focus,
Cassegrain focus and coudé focus.
Advantages of Reflecting Telescope
A reflecting telescope is designed by replacing the objective lens with a mirror, signif-
icantly reducing or completely eliminating many of the problems already discussed.
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• One of the advantages of reflectors is the absence of chromatic aberration, since
all wavelengths are reflected to the same point.
• Because the light does not pass through a mirror, only the one reflecting surface
needs to be ground with precision.
• Also, the weight of the mirror can be minimized by creating a honeycomb struc-
ture behind the reflecting surface, removing a large amount of unnecessary mass.
• In fact, because the mirror is supported from behind rather than along its edges,
it is possible to design an active system of pressure pads that can help to eliminate
distortions in the mirror’s shape produced by thermal effects and the changes in
the gravitational force on the mirror as the telescope moves (a process known as
active optics).
3 Resolution and the Rayleigh Criterion
• A more important characteristic, which depends on the aperture of the telescope,
is the resolving power, which determines, for example, the minimum angular
separation of the components of a binary star that can be seen as two separate
stars.
• The theoretical limit for the resolution is set by the diffraction of light. The
telescope does not form a point image of a star, but rather a small disk, since
light “bends around the corner” like all radiation.
Figure : a) The circular aperture diffraction pattern of a point source. b) The super-
imposed diffraction patterns from two point sources where the sources are easily re-
solved. c) The two sources are barely resolvable.
• The theoretical resolution of a telescope is often given in the form introduced by
Rayleigh as
𝜆
sin 𝜃 ≈ 𝜃 = 1.22 (𝜃 in radians).
𝐷
As a practical rule, we can say that two objects are seen as separate if the angular
distance between them is greater than this angle 𝜃.
• This formula can be applied to optical as well as radio telescopes. For example,
if one makes observations at a typical yellow wavelength (𝜆 = 550 nm), the
resolving power of a reflector with an aperture of 1 m is about 0.1′′ .
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• However, seeing spreads out the image to a diameter of typically one arc second.
Thus, the theoretical diffraction limit cannot usually be reached on the surface
of the Earth.
4 Aberrations
Both lens and mirror systems suffer from inherent image distortions known as aber-
rations. Often these aberrations are common to both types of systems, but chromatic
aberration is unique to refracting telescopes.
Chromatic aberration
• The problem stems from the fact that the focal length of a lens is wavelength-
dependent. Since the index of refraction varies with wavelength, the angle of
refraction at the interface between two different media must also depend on
wavelength.
• This translates into a wavelength-dependent focal length and, as a result, a focal
point for blue light that differs from that for red light. The problem of chromatic
aberration can be diminished somewhat by the addition of correcting lenses.
crown glass flint glass
chromatic aberration
achromatic doublet
Figure: a) Chromatic aberration of a single lens causes different wavelengths of light
to have differing focal lengths. b) For an achromatic doublet, visible wavelengths have
approximately the same focal length.
Spherical aberration
• Several aberrations result from the shape of the reflecting or refracting surface(s).
• Although it is easier, and therefore cheaper, to grind lenses and mirrors into
spheroids, not all areas of these surfaces will focus a parallel set of light rays to
a single point.
• This effect, known as spherical aberration, can be overcome by producing care-
fully designed optical surfaces (paraboloids).
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Figure: Spherical aberration in a lens.
Other aberrations
Even when paraboloids are used, mirrors are not necessarily free from aberrations.
Following are some of the other types of aberration.
• Coma produces elongated images of point sources that lie off the optical axis,
because the focal lengths of paraboloids are a function of 𝜃, the angle between
the direction of an incoming light ray and the optical axis.
• Astigmatism is a defect that derives from having different parts of a lens or
mirror converge an image at slightly different locations on the focal plane.
• When a lens or mirror is designed to correct for astigmatism, curvature of field
can then be a problem. Curvature of field is due to the focusing of images on a
curve rather than on a plane.
5 The Brightness of an Image and Focal Ratio
• The concept that describes the effect of the light-gathering power of telescopes
is the illumination 𝐽 , the amount of light energy per second focused onto a unit
area of the resolved image.
• Since the amount of light collected from the source is proportional to the area of
the aperture, the illumination
2
𝐷 𝐷2
𝐽 ∝𝜋 =𝜋
(2) 4
where 𝐷 is the diameter of the aperture.
• We know that the linear size of the image is proportional to the focal length 𝑓
of the lens.
• Therefore, the image area must be proportional to 𝑓 2 , and correspondingly, the
illumination must be inversely proportional to 𝑓 2 .
• Combining these results, the illumination must be proportional to the square of
the ratio of the aperture diameter to the focal length. The inverse of this ratio is
often referred to as the focal ratio,
𝑓
𝐹=
𝐷
8
• Thus the illumination is related to the focal ratio by
1
𝐽 ∝
𝐹2
• Since the number of photons per second striking a unit area of photographic
plate or some other detector is described by the illumination, the illumination
indicates the amount of time required to collect the photons needed to form a
sufficiently bright image for analysis.
In concluding it:
1. We now see that the size of the aperture of a telescope is critical for two reasons:
A larger aperture both improves resolution and increases the illumination.
2. On the other hand, a longer focal length increases the linear size of the image
but decreases the illumination.
3. For a fixed focal ratio, increasing the diameter of the telescope results in greater
spatial resolution, but the illumination remains constant. The proper design of a
telescope must take into account the principal applications that are intended for
the instrument.
6 Adaptive Optics
• While large-aperture ground-based telescopes are able to gather many more
photons than smaller telescopes over the same time interval, they are generally
unable to resolve the object any more effectively without significant effort.
• In fact, even a ground-based 10-m telescope located at a site with exceptional
seeing (e.g. the Keck telescopes at Mauna Kea) cannot resolve a source any bet-
ter than an amateur’s 20-cm backyard telescope can without the aid of active
optics to correct distortions in the telescope’s mirrors and adaptive optics to
compensate for atmospheric turbulence.
• In the latter case, a small, deformable (“rubber”) mirror is employed that has tens
or perhaps hundreds of piezoelectric crystals attached to the back that act like
tiny actuators.
• In order to counteract changes in the shape of the wavefronts coming from the
source due to Earth’s atmosphere, these crystals make micrometer-size adjust-
ments to the shape of the mirror several hundred of times per second.
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Figure : The light from the telescope is reflected off a fast tip-tilt mirror and a
deformable mirror before being split between the waveform sensor and the high-
resolution camera. The image motion and wavefront distortions are computed by the
tip-tilt and wavefront control systems and are applied to the tip-tilt and deformable
mirror, respectively.
• In order to determine the changes that need to be applied, the telescope auto-
matically monitors a guide star that is very near the target object.
• In most cases, a sufficiently bright guide star does not exist close enough to the
target. At a small number of observatories, an artificial laser guide star may be
used in these circumstances. This is accomplished by firing a very powerful and
carefully tuned laser into the sky in order to excite sodium atoms at an altitude
of approximately 90 km.
• Fluctuations in the guide star determine the adjustments that must be made to
the deformable mirror.
• This process is somewhat easier in the near-infrared simply because of the longer
wave-lengths involved. As a result, adaptive optics systems have been successful
in providing near-diffraction-limited images at near-infrared wavelengths.
7 Photographic Plates
Photographic plates convert incoming light into a chemical change in a silver halide
emulsion. After development, the density of the resulting image corresponds to the
brightness distribution of the celestial scene.
• Basic Principle: Photographic plates record the intensity and distribution of
light from celestial objects by means of a light-sensitive emulsion coated on a
glass substrate.
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• Structure: Each plate consists of a glass sheet covered with a thin layer of silver
halide (usually silver bromide or silver chloride) embedded in gelatin.
• Exposure: When light from a star or other source strikes the emulsion, photons
liberate electrons in the silver halide grains:
AgBr + ℎ𝜈 → Ag + Br.
A small number of silver atoms form at the sites of exposure, creating a latent
image.
• Development: The plate is placed in a developer solution. This solution con-
tains a reducing agent that converts the silver halide crystals that were exposed
to light into metallic silver, producing a negative image—bright stars appear as
dark spots.
• Fixing and Washing: The remaining unexposed silver halide is removed by a
fixer (typically sodium thiosulfate), leaving only the developed silver image. The
plate is then washed and dried for preservation.
• Astronomical Use:
– Used for astrometry (measuring star positions) and photometry (bright-
ness).
– Multiple long exposures can detect faint objects due to cumulative photon
capture.
– Provides a permanent record for later re-measurement and comparison.
8 CCD
• Basic Principle: A CCD converts incoming photons into electronic charges,
stores them as discrete packets in an array of pixels, and then transfers these
charges sequentially for digital readout.
• Structure: A CCD consists of a two-dimensional grid of light-sensitive semi-
conductor elements (pixels) made of silicon. Each pixel acts as a tiny photodiode
that accumulates charge in proportion to the number of incident photons.
• Photon Detection: When light falls on a pixel, photons generate electron–hole
pairs:
ℎ𝜈 → 𝑒 − + ℎ+ .
The electrons are trapped in a potential well under the pixel, forming a charge
proportional to the incident light intensity.
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Figure: The principle of reading a CCD camera. (a) During an exposure electrons are
trapped in potential wells corresponding to pixels of the camera. The number at each
pixel shows the number of electrons. (b) After the exposure each horizontal line is
moved one pixel to the right; the rightmost row moves to the readout buffer. (c) The
contents of the buffer is moved down by one pixel. The lowermost charge moves to
the A/D converter, which sends the number of electrons to the computer. (d) After
moving the buffer down several times one vertical row has been read. (e) The image
is again shifted right by one pixel. This procedure is repeated till the whole image is
read.
• Charge Shifting: After exposure, the charges are moved one pixel at a time
by varying the gate voltages in sequence. Each pixel typically has three gate
electrodes (clock phases 𝜙1 , 𝜙2 , 𝜙3 ). By changing these voltages cyclically, the
potential wells shift position, transferring charge to the next pixel:
𝜙1 → 𝜙2 → 𝜙3 .
This process is called charge coupling.
• Readout and Digitization: The output amplifier converts each charge packet
into a voltage signal, which is then digitized to produce pixel values correspond-
ing to image brightness.
• Advantages in Astronomy:
– High quantum efficiency (> 70%) — much higher than photographic plates.
– Linear response between light intensity and signal.
– Low noise and suitable for long exposures.
– Digital output allows precise image processing and photometric analysis.
9 Radio Telescopes
• In 1931 Karl Jansky (1905–1950) was conducting experiments for Bell Laborato-
ries related to the production of radio-wavelength static from thunderstorms.
• During the course of his investigations Jansky discovered that some of the static
in his receiver was of “extraterrestrial origin.”
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• By 1935 he had correctly concluded that much of the signal he was measuring
originated in the plane of the Milky Way, with the strongest emission coming
from the constellation Sagittarius, which lies in the direction of the center of our
Galaxy.
• Jansky’s pioneering work represented the birth of radio astronomy, a whole new
field of observational study.
• Today radio astronomy plays an important role in our investigation of the elec-
tromagnetic spectrum.
• Radio waves are produced by a variety of mechanisms related to a range of phys-
ical processes, such as the interactions of charged particles with magnetic fields.
• This window on the universe provides astronomers and physicists with valuable
clues to the inner workings of some of nature’s most spectacular phenomena.
10 Spectral Flux Density
• Since radio waves interact with matter differently than visible light does, the
devices used to detect and measure it are necessarily very different from optical
telescopes.
• The parabolic dish of a typical radio telescope reflects the radio energy of the
source to an antenna. The signal is then amplified and processed to produce a
radio map of the sky at a particular wavelength.
• The strength of a radio source is measured in terms of the spectral flux density,
𝑆(𝜈), the amount of energy per second, per unit frequency interval striking a unit
area of the telescope.
• To determine the total amount of energy per second (the power) collected by the
receiver, the spectral flux must be integrated over the telescope’s collecting area
and over the frequency interval for which the detector is sensitive, referred to as
the bandwidth.
• If 𝑓𝜈 is a function describing the efficiency of the detector at the frequency 𝜈,
then the amount of energy detected per second becomes
𝑃 = ∫ ∫ 𝑆(𝜈)𝑓𝜈 𝑑𝜈𝑑𝐴
𝐴 𝜈
• If the detector is 100% efficient over a frequency interval Δ𝜈 (i.e., 𝑓𝜈 = 1), and
if 𝑆(𝜈) can be considered to be constant over that interval, then the integral
simplifies to give
𝑃 = 𝑆𝐴Δ𝜈
where 𝐴 is the effective area of the aperture.
• A typical radio source has a spectral flux density 𝑆(𝜈) on the order of one jansky
(Jy), where 1 Jy = 10−26 W m−2 Hz−1 . Spectral flux density measurements of
several mJy are not uncommon. With such weak sources, a large aperture is
needed to collect enough photons to be measurable.
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11 Large Apertures and Interferometry
• One problem that radio telescopes share with optical telescopes is the need for
greater resolution.
• Rayleigh’s criterion applies to radio telescopes just as it does in the visible regime,
except that radio wavelengths are much longer than those involved in optical
work.
• Therefore, to obtain a level of resolution comparable to what is reached in the
visible, much larger diameters are needed.
• One advantage of working at such long wavelengths is that small deviations
from an ideal parabolic shape are not nearly as crucial.
• Since the relevant criterion is to be within some small fraction of a wavelength
(say 𝜆/20) of what is considered a perfect shape, variations of 1 cm are tolerable
when observing at 21 cm.
• Although it is impractical to build individual dishes of sufficient size to produce
the resolution at radio wavelengths that is anything like what is obtainable from
the ground in the visible regime, astronomers have nevertheless been able to
resolve radio images to better than 0.001′′ .
• This remarkable resolution is accomplished through a process not unlike the
interference technique used in the Young double-slit experiment.
Figure: The technique of radio interferometry.
• The figure shows two radio telescopes separated by a baseline of distance 𝑑.
• Since the distance from telescope B to the source is greater than the distance
from telescope A to the source by an amount 𝐿, a specific wavefront will arrive
at B after it has reached A.
• The two signals will be in phase and their superposition will result in a maximum
if 𝐿 is equal to an integral number of wavelengths [𝐿 = 𝑛𝜆, where 𝑛 = 0, 1, 2, …
for constructive interference].
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• Similarly, if 𝐿 is an odd integral number of half-wavelengths, then the signals
will be exactly out of phase and a superposition of signals will result in a min-
imum in the signal strength [𝐿 = (𝑛 − 12 )𝜆, where 𝑛 = 0, 1, 2, … for destructive
interference].
• Since the pointing angle 𝜃 is related to 𝑑 and 𝐿 by
𝐿
sin 𝜃 =
𝑑
it is possible to accurately determine the position of the source by using the
interference pattern produced by combining the signals of the two antennas.
• Clearly the ability to resolve an image improves with a longer baseline 𝑑.
• Very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) is possible over the size of a continent
or even between continents.
• In such cases the data can be recorded on site and delivered to a central loca-
tion for processing at a later time. It is only necessary that the observations be
simultaneous and that the exact time of data acquisition be recorded.
12 Infrared, Ultraviolet, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray As-
tronomy
Given the enormous amount of data supplied by optical and radio observations, it is
natural to consider studies in other wavelength regions as well. Unfortunately, such
observations are either difficult or impossible to perform from the ground because
Earth’s atmosphere is opaque to most wavelength regions outside of the visible and
radio bands.
12.1 Atmospheric Windows in the Electromagnetic Spectrum
Figure: The transparency of Earth’s atmosphere as a function of wavelength.
• Long- wavelength ultraviolet radiation and some regions in the infrared are able
to traverse the atmosphere with limited success, but other wavelength regions
are completely blocked.
15
• For this reason, special measures must be taken to gather information at many
photon energies.
• The primary contributor to infrared absorption is water vapor. As a result, if
an observatory can be placed above most of the atmospheric water vapor, some
observations can be made from the ground.
• To this end, both NASA and the United Kingdom operate infrared telescopes
(3 m and 3.8 m, respectively) on Mauna Kea where the humidity is quite low.
However, even at an altitude of 4200 m, the problem is not completely solved.
• To get above more of the atmosphere, balloon and aircraft observations have
also been used. Besides atmospheric absorption, the situation in the infrared is
complicated still further because steps must be taken to cool the detector, if not
the entire telescope.
• Using Wien’s displacement law, the peak wavelength of a blackbody of temper-
ature 300 K is found to be nearly 10 µm. Thus the telescope and its detectors can
produce radiation in just the wavelength region the observer might be interested
in.
• Of course, the atmosphere itself can radiate in the infrared as well, including the
production of molecular IR emission lines.
12.2 Observing Above the Atmosphere
• Modern astronomy relies on observing the universe across the entire electro-
magnetic spectrum. Each wavelength band reveals different physical conditions
and processes that cannot be detected through visible light alone.
• Cool objects and dust-obscured regions emit strongly in the infrared; hot, young,
and energetic systems radiate in the ultraviolet; extremely high-temperature
plasmas near compact objects are bright in X-rays; and the most violent cosmic
events produce gamma rays.
• Since the Earth’s atmosphere absorbs or scatters much of this non-visible radi-
ation, many observations require space-based telescopes equipped with special-
ized detectors.
• By combining data from infrared, ultraviolet, X-ray, and gamma-ray astronomy,
we obtain a multi-wavelength picture of the cosmos, leading to a deeper and
more complete understanding of stellar evolution, galactic dynamics, and high-
energy astrophysical phenomena.
12.3 Infrared (IR) Astronomy
Infrared astronomy deals with electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range from
approximately 1 𝜇m to 1000 𝜇m. This part of the spectrum is particularly useful for
observing objects that are too cool or too obscured by dust to be detected in visible
light. Since interstellar dust grains absorb optical light and reradiate it in the infrared,
IR observations allow us to probe regions that are otherwise hidden.
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• Key characteristics:
– Sensitive to thermal emission from cool objects (10–300 K).
– Penetrates dusty regions of the interstellar medium.
– Reveals structures in star-forming clouds and galactic centers.
• Typical astronomical sources:
– Protostars and star-forming regions.
– Brown dwarfs and exoplanets.
– Interstellar dust and molecular clouds.
– Galactic centers and heavily obscured galaxies.
• Scientific importance: IR data provide insights into the early stages of stellar
evolution, the structure of galaxies, and the thermal properties of cosmic dust.
• Major observatories: Spitzer Space Telescope, Herschel Space Observatory, James
Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
12.4 Ultraviolet (UV) Astronomy
Ultraviolet astronomy studies the sky in wavelengths ranging from about 10 nm to
400 nm. UV radiation is emitted predominantly by hot, young, or highly energetic
astrophysical objects. Since the Earth’s atmosphere absorbs most UV radiation, UV
observations must be carried out from space-based telescopes.
• Key characteristics:
– Traces temperatures from 104 to 106 K.
– Highly sensitive to energetic processes such as stellar winds, accretion, and
ionization.
• Typical astronomical sources:
– Massive O and B-type stars and young stellar populations.
– White dwarfs and hot subdwarfs.
– Active galactic nuclei (AGN) with accretion disks.
– Hot gas in star-forming galaxies.
• Scientific importance: UV astronomy helps study the evolution of young stars,
chemical composition of the interstellar medium, and the physics of accretion
around compact objects.
• Major observatories: GALEX, Hubble Space Telescope (UV capabilities), AstroSat-
UVIT.
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12.5 X-ray Astronomy
X-ray astronomy explores one of the most energetic regions of the electromagnetic
spectrum, with wavelengths from 0.01 nm to 10 nm. X-rays are produced when matter
reaches temperatures of millions of kelvin or undergoes violent acceleration. Since
X-rays cannot penetrate Earth’s atmosphere, all observations must be space-based.
• Key characteristics:
– Probes high-energy and high-gravity environments.
– Requires grazing-incidence optics to focus X-rays.
– Sensitive to plasma at 106 –108 K.
• Typical astronomical sources:
– Black hole and neutron-star accretion disks.
– X-ray binaries and pulsars.
– Supernova remnants and shock fronts.
– Galaxy clusters with hot intracluster gas.
• Scientific importance: X-ray studies reveal the behavior of matter under ex-
treme gravity, magnetic fields, and temperatures. They also probe large-scale
structure through hot gas in clusters.
• Major observatories: Chandra X-ray Observatory, XMM-Newton, NuSTAR, As-
troSat.
12.6 Gamma-ray Astronomy
Gamma-ray astronomy investigates the most energetic electromagnetic radiation, with
wavelengths shorter than 0.01 nm and photon energies extending into the GeV and TeV
ranges. Gamma rays originate from extreme astrophysical environments and high-
energy particle interactions.
• Key characteristics:
– Studies relativistic jets, nuclear reactions, and particle acceleration.
– Requires pair-production or scintillation detectors rather than lenses.
– Observations are usually photon-limited due to low fluxes.
• Typical astronomical sources:
– Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs).
– Blazars and active galactic nuclei.
– Neutron star mergers and magnetars.
– Cosmic-ray interactions with interstellar matter.
• Scientific importance: Gamma-ray astronomy probes the strongest magnetic
fields, highest velocities, and most violent events in the universe. It also provides
insights into fundamental physics and high-energy particle acceleration.
• Major observatories: Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (LAT), INTEGRAL, HESS,
MAGIC, VERITAS.
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References
[1] An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics, Bradley W Carroll, Dale A Ostlie.
[2] Fundamental Astronomy, H Karttunen, P Kröger, H Oja, M Poutanen, K J Donner
(Eds.).
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