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Radio Astronomy

Origins Of Radio Astronomy, Radio Vs. Optical Astronomy, Radio Telescopes, Increasing Resolution In A Radio Telescope



Radio astronomy is the field of science in which information about the solar system and outer space is collected by using radio waves rather than visible light waves. In their broadest principles, radio astronomy and traditional optical astronomy are quite similar. Both visible radiation and radio waves are forms of electro-magnetic radiation, the primary difference between them being the wavelength and frequency of the waves in each case. Visible light has wavelengths in the range between about 4,000 and 7,000 angstroms and frequencies in the range from about 1014 to 1015 cycles per second. (An angstrom is a unit of measurement equal to 10-8 centimeter.) In contrast, radio waves have wavelengths greater than 1 meter and frequencies of less than 109 cycles per second.




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