Portal:Radiation astronomy/Lesson/15

First submillimeter source in Carina

Main articles: Radiation astronomy/First submillimeter source in Carina and First submillimeter source in Carina

Observations made with the APEX telescope reveal the cold dusty clouds from which stars form. Credit: ESO/APEX/T. Preibisch et al. (Submillimetre); N. Smith, University of Minnesota/NOAO/AURA/NSF (Optical).

The first submillimeter source in Carina is unknown.

The field of submillimeter astronomy is the result of observations and theories about submillimeter sources detected in the sky above.

The first astronomical submillimeter source discovered may have been the Sun.

But, submillimeter waves from the Sun are intermingled with other radiation so that the Sun may appear as other than a primary source for submillimeter waves.

The early use of sounding rockets and balloons to carry submillimeter detectors high enough may have detected submillimeter waves from the Sun as early as the 1940s.

This is a lesson in map reading, coordinate matching, and researching. It is also a research project in the history of submillimeter astronomy looking for the first astronomical submillimeter source discovered in the constellation of Carina.

Nearly all the background you need to participate and learn by doing you've probably already been introduced to at a secondary level and perhaps even a primary education level.

Some of the material and information is at the college or university level, and as you progress in finding submillimeter sources, you'll run into concepts and experimental tests that are actual research.