1.
Hubble Space Telescope
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The Hubble Space Telescope is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. Although not the first space telescope, Hubble is one of the largest and most versatile, with a 2. 4-meter mirror, Hubbles four main instruments observe in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared spectra. Hubbles orbit outside the distortion of Earths atmosphere allows it to take extremely high-resolution images, Hubble has recorded some of the most detailed visible light images ever, allowing a deep view into space and time. Many Hubble observations have led to breakthroughs in astrophysics, such as determining the rate of expansion of the universe. The HST was built by the United States space agency NASA, the Space Telescope Science Institute selects Hubbles targets and processes the resulting data, while the Goddard Space Flight Center controls the spacecraft. Space telescopes were proposed as early as 1923, Hubble was funded in the 1970s, with a proposed launch in 1983, but the project was beset by technical delays, budget problems, and the Challenger disaster. When finally launched in 1990, Hubbles main mirror was found to have been ground incorrectly, the optics were corrected to their intended quality by a servicing mission in 1993. Hubble is the telescope designed to be serviced in space by astronauts. After launch by Space Shuttle Discovery in 1990, five subsequent Space Shuttle missions repaired, upgraded, the fifth mission was canceled on safety grounds following the Columbia disaster. However, after spirited public discussion, NASA administrator Mike Griffin approved the fifth servicing mission, the telescope is operating as of 2017, and could last until 2030–2040. Its scientific successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, is scheduled for launch in 2018, the history of the Hubble Space Telescope can be traced back as far as 1946, to the astronomer Lyman Spitzers paper Astronomical advantages of an extraterrestrial observatory. In it, he discussed the two advantages that a space-based observatory would have over ground-based telescopes. First, the resolution would be limited only by diffraction, rather than by the turbulence in the atmosphere. Second, a telescope could observe infrared and ultraviolet light. Spitzer devoted much of his career to pushing for the development of a space telescope, space-based astronomy had begun on a very small scale following World War II, as scientists made use of developments that had taken place in rocket technology. An orbiting solar telescope was launched in 1962 by the United Kingdom as part of the Ariel space program, oAO-1s battery failed after three days, terminating the mission. It was followed by OAO-2, which carried out observations of stars and galaxies from its launch in 1968 until 1972. The continuing success of the OAO program encouraged increasingly strong consensus within the community that the LST should be a major goal
2.
Chandra X-ray Observatory
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The Chandra X-ray Observatory, previously known as the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility, is a Flagship-class space observatory launched on STS-93 by NASA on July 23,1999. Chandra is sensitive to X-ray sources 100 times fainter than any previous X-ray telescope, since the Earths atmosphere absorbs the vast majority of X-rays, they are not detectable from Earth-based telescopes, therefore space-based telescopes are required to make these observations. Chandra is an Earth satellite in a 64-hour orbit, and its mission is ongoing as of 2017, Chandra is one of the Great Observatories, along with the Hubble Space Telescope, Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, and the Spitzer Space Telescope. The telescope is named after astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, in 1976 the Chandra X-ray Observatory was proposed to NASA by Riccardo Giacconi and Harvey Tananbaum. Preliminary work began the year at Marshall Space Flight Center. In the meantime, in 1978, NASA launched the first imaging X-ray telescope, Einstein, work continued on the AXAF project throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In 1992, to reduce costs, the spacecraft was redesigned, four of the twelve planned mirrors were eliminated, as were two of the six scientific instruments. AXAFs planned orbit was changed to a one, reaching one third of the way to the Moons at its farthest point. This eliminated the possibility of improvement or repair by the space shuttle, AXAF was assembled and tested by TRW in Redondo Beach, California. AXAF was renamed Chandra as part of a contest held by NASA in 1998, the contest winners, Jatila van der Veen and Tyrel Johnson, suggested the name in honor of Nobel Prize–winning Indian-American astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. He is known for his work in determining the mass of white dwarf stars, leading to greater understanding of high energy astronomical phenomena such as neutron stars. Originally scheduled to be launched in December 1998, the spacecraft was delayed several months, Chandra has been returning data since the month after it launched. It is operated by the SAO at the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with assistance from MIT, the ACIS CCDs suffered particle damage during early radiation belt passages. To prevent further damage, the instrument is now removed from the focal plane during passages. Although Chandra was initially given a lifetime of 5 years. Physically Chandra could last much longer, a study performed at the Chandra X-ray Center indicated that the observatory could last at least 15 years. In July 2008, the International X-ray Observatory, a joint project between ESA, NASA and JAXA, was proposed as the next major X-ray observatory but was later cancelled, ESA later resurrected the project as the Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics with a proposed launch in 2028. The data gathered by Chandra has greatly advanced the field of X-ray astronomy, in the Crab Nebula, another supernova remnant, Chandra showed a never-before-seen ring around the central pulsar and jets that had only been partially seen by earlier telescopes
3.
Constellation
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A constellation is formally defined as a region of the celestial sphere, with boundaries laid down by the International Astronomical Union. The constellation areas mostly had their origins in Western-traditional patterns of stars from which the constellations take their names, in 1922, the International Astronomical Union officially recognized the 88 modern constellations, which cover the entire sky. They began as the 48 classical Greek constellations laid down by Ptolemy in the Almagest, Constellations in the far southern sky are late 16th- and mid 18th-century constructions. 12 of the 88 constellations compose the zodiac signs, though the positions of the constellations only loosely match the dates assigned to them in astrology. The term constellation can refer to the stars within the boundaries of that constellation. Notable groupings of stars that do not form a constellation are called asterisms, when astronomers say something is “in” a given constellation they mean it is within those official boundaries. Any given point in a coordinate system can unambiguously be assigned to a single constellation. Many astronomical naming systems give the constellation in which an object is found along with a designation in order to convey a rough idea in which part of the sky it is located. For example, the Flamsteed designation for bright stars consists of a number, the word constellation seems to come from the Late Latin term cōnstellātiō, which can be translated as set of stars, and came into use in English during the 14th century. It also denotes 88 named groups of stars in the shape of stellar-patterns, the Ancient Greek word for constellation was ἄστρον. Colloquial usage does not draw a distinction between constellation in the sense of an asterism and constellation in the sense of an area surrounding an asterism. The modern system of constellations used in astronomy employs the latter concept, the term circumpolar constellation is used for any constellation that, from a particular latitude on Earth, never sets below the horizon. From the North Pole or South Pole, all constellations south or north of the equator are circumpolar constellations. In the equatorial or temperate latitudes, the term equatorial constellation has sometimes been used for constellations that lie to the opposite the circumpolar constellations. They generally include all constellations that intersect the celestial equator or part of the zodiac, usually the only thing the stars in a constellation have in common is that they appear near each other in the sky when viewed from the Earth. In galactic space, the stars of a constellation usually lie at a variety of distances, since stars also travel on their own orbits through the Milky Way, the star patterns of the constellations change slowly over time. After tens to hundreds of thousands of years, their familiar outlines will become unrecognisable, the terms chosen for the constellation themselves, together with the appearance of a constellation, may reveal where and when its constellation makers lived. The earliest direct evidence for the constellations comes from inscribed stones and it seems that the bulk of the Mesopotamian constellations were created within a relatively short interval from around 1300 to 1000 BC
4.
Taurus (constellation)
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Taurus is one of the constellations of the zodiac, which means it is crossed by the plane of the ecliptic. Taurus is a large and prominent constellation in the northern hemispheres winter sky and it is one of the oldest constellations, dating back to at least the Early Bronze Age when it marked the location of the Sun during the spring equinox. Its importance to the agricultural calendar influenced various bull figures in the mythologies of Ancient Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Greece, a number of features exist that are of interest to astronomers. Taurus hosts two of the nearest open clusters to Earth, the Pleiades and the Hyades, both of which are visible to the naked eye, at first magnitude, the red giant Aldebaran is the brightest star in the constellation. In the northwest part of Taurus is the supernova remnant Messier 1, one of the closest regions of active star formation, the Taurus-Auriga complex, crosses into the northern part of the constellation. The variable star T Tauri is the prototype of a class of pre-main-sequence stars, in September and October, Taurus is visible in the evening along the eastern horizon. The most favorable time to observe Taurus in the sky is during the months of December. By March and April, the constellation will appear to the west during the evening twilight and this constellation forms part of the zodiac, and hence is intersected by the ecliptic. This circle across the sphere forms the apparent path of the Sun as the Earth completes its annual orbit. As the orbital plane of the Moon and the planets lie near the ecliptic, the galactic plane of the Milky Way intersects the northeast corner of the constellation and the galactic anticenter is located near the border between Taurus and Auriga. Taurus is the only constellation crossed by all three of the equator, celestial equator, and ecliptic. A ring-like galactic structure known as the Goulds Belt passes through the Taurus constellation, the recommended three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1922, is Tau. The official constellation boundaries, as set by Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a polygon of 26 segments. In the equatorial coordinate system, the right ascension coordinates of these borders lie between 03h 23. 4m and 05h 53. 3m, while the coordinates are between 31. 10° and −1. 35°. Because a small part of the lies to the south of the celestial equator. During November, the Taurid meteor shower appears to radiate from the direction of this constellation. The Beta Taurid meteor shower occurs during the months of June and July in the daytime, between 18 and 29 October, both the Northern Taurids and the Southern Taurids are active, though the latter stream is stronger. However, between November 1 and 10, the two streams equalize, the brightest member of this constellation is Aldebaran, an orange-hued, spectral class K5 III giant star
5.
Stellar evolution
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Stellar evolution is the process by which a star changes over the course of time. The table shows the lifetimes of stars as a function of their masses, all stars are born from collapsing clouds of gas and dust, often called nebulae or molecular clouds. Over the course of millions of years, these protostars settle down into a state of equilibrium, nuclear fusion powers a star for most of its life. Initially the energy is generated by the fusion of hydrogen atoms at the core of the main-sequence star, later, as the preponderance of atoms at the core becomes helium, stars like the Sun begin to fuse hydrogen along a spherical shell surrounding the core. This process causes the star to gradually grow in size, passing through the subgiant stage until it reaches the red giant phase. Once a star like the Sun has exhausted its fuel, its core collapses into a dense white dwarf. Stars with around ten or more times the mass of the Sun can explode in a supernova as their inert iron cores collapse into a dense neutron star or black hole. Stellar evolution is not studied by observing the life of a star, as most stellar changes occur too slowly to be detected. Instead, astrophysicists come to understand how stars evolve by observing numerous stars at various points in their lifetime, in June 2015, astronomers reported evidence for Population III stars in the Cosmos Redshift 7 galaxy at z =6.60. Stellar evolution starts with the collapse of a giant molecular cloud. Typical giant molecular clouds are roughly 100 light-years across and contain up to 6,000,000 solar masses, as it collapses, a giant molecular cloud breaks into smaller and smaller pieces. In each of these fragments, the collapsing gas releases gravitational potential energy as heat, as its temperature and pressure increase, a fragment condenses into a rotating sphere of superhot gas known as a protostar. A protostar continues to grow by accretion of gas and dust from the molecular cloud, further development is determined by its mass. Protostars are encompassed in dust, and are more readily visible at infrared wavelengths. Observations from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer have been important for unveiling numerous Galactic protostars. Protostars with masses less than roughly 0.08 M☉ never reach high enough for nuclear fusion of hydrogen to begin. These are known as brown dwarfs, the International Astronomical Union defines brown dwarfs as stars massive enough to fuse deuterium at some point in their lives. Objects smaller than 13 MJ are classified as sub-brown dwarfs, both types, deuterium-burning and not, shine dimly and die away slowly, cooling gradually over hundreds of millions of years
6.
Neutron star
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A neutron star is the collapsed core of a large star. Neutron stars are the smallest and densest stars known to exist, though neutron stars typically have a radius on the order of 10 km, they can have masses of about twice that of the Sun. They result from the explosion of a massive star, combined with gravitational collapse. They are supported against further collapse by neutron degeneracy pressure, a described by the Pauli exclusion principle. If the remnant has too great a density, something which occurs in excess of a limit of the size of neutron stars at 2–3 solar masses. Neutron stars that can be observed are very hot and typically have a temperature around 6×105 K. They are so dense that a normal-sized matchbox containing neutron-star material would have a mass of approximately 3 billion tonnes and their magnetic fields are between 108 and 1015 times as strong as that of the Earth. The gravitational field at the stars surface is about 2×1011 times that of the Earth. As the stars core collapses, its rotation rate increases as a result of conservation of angular momentum, some neutron stars emit beams of electromagnetic radiation that make them detectable as pulsars. Indeed, the discovery of pulsars in 1967 was the first observational suggestion that stars exist. The radiation from pulsars is thought to be emitted from regions near their magnetic poles. The fastest-spinning neutron star known is PSR J1748-2446ad, rotating at a rate of 716 times a second or 43,000 revolutions per minute, giving a linear speed at the surface on the order of 0.24 c. There are thought to be around 100 million neutron stars in the Milky Way, however, most are old and cold, and neutron stars can only be easily detected in certain instances, such as if they are a pulsar or part of a binary system. Soft gamma repeaters are conjectured to be a type of neutron star with strong magnetic fields, known as magnetars, or alternatively. Additionally, such accretion can recycle old pulsars and potentially cause them to mass and spin-up to very fast rotation rates. The merger of binary stars may be the source of short-duration gamma-ray bursts and are likely strong sources of gravitational waves. Any main-sequence star with a mass of above 8 times the mass of the sun has the potential to produce a neutron star. As the star evolves away from the sequence, subsequent nuclear burning produces an iron-rich core
7.
Crab Nebula
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The Crab Nebula is a supernova remnant in the constellation of Taurus. The now-current name is due to William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, corresponding to a bright supernova recorded by Chinese astronomers in 1054, the nebula was observed later by English astronomer John Bevis in 1731. The nebula was the first astronomical object identified with a supernova explosion. At an apparent magnitude of 8.4, comparable to that of Saturns moon Titan, it is not visible to the naked eye, the nebula lies in the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way galaxy, at a distance of about 2.0 kiloparsecs from Earth. It has a diameter of 3.4 parsecs, corresponding to an apparent diameter of some 7 arcminutes, and is expanding at a rate of about 1,500 kilometres per second, or 0. 5% of the speed of light. At the center of the lies the Crab Pulsar, a neutron star 28–30 kilometres across with a spin rate of 30.2 times per second. At X-ray and gamma ray energies above 30 keV, the Crab Nebula is generally the strongest persistent source in the sky, the nebulas radiation allows for the detailed studying of celestial bodies that occult it. The inner part of the nebula is a much smaller pulsar wind nebula that appears as a shell surrounding the pulsar, for the Crab Nebula, the divisions are superficial but remain meaningful to researchers and their lines of study. Modern understanding that the Crab Nebula was created by a supernova dates to 1921 and this eventually led to the conclusion that the creation of the Crab Nebula corresponds to the bright SN1054 supernova recorded by Chinese astronomers in AD1054. There is also a 13th-century Japanese reference to this guest star in Meigetsuki, the Crab Nebula was first identified in 1731 by John Bevis. The nebula was independently rediscovered in 1758 by Charles Messier as he was observing a bright comet and it is in searching in vain for the comet that Charles Messier found the Crab nebula, which he at first thought to be Halleys comet. After some observation, noticing that the object that he was observing was not moving across the sky, Messier then realised the usefulness of compiling a catalogue of celestial objects of a cloudy nature, but fixed in the sky, to avoid incorrectly cataloguing them as comets. After several observations, he concluded that it was composed of a group of stars. The 3rd Earl of Rosse observed the nebula at Birr Castle in 1844 using a 36-inch telescope and he observed it again later, in 1848, using a 72-inch telescope and could not confirm the supposed resemblance, but the name stuck nevertheless. In 1913, when Vesto Slipher registered his spectroscopy study of the sky, in the early twentieth century, the analysis of early photographs of the nebula taken several years apart revealed that it was expanding. Tracing the expansion back revealed that the nebula must have become visible on Earth about 900 years ago, historical records revealed that a new star bright enough to be seen in the daytime had been recorded in the same part of the sky by Chinese astronomers in 1054. Changes in the cloud, suggesting its small extent, were discovered by Carl Lampland in 1921 and that same year, John Charles Duncan demonstrated that the remnant is expanding, while Knut Lundmark noted its proximity to the guest star of 1054.5 by July. The supernova was visible to the eye for about two years after its first observation
8.
Gamma ray
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Gamma ray, denoted by the lower-case Greek letter gamma, is penetrating electromagnetic radiation of a kind arising from the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei. It consists of photons in the highest observed range of photon energy, paul Villard, a French chemist and physicist, discovered gamma radiation in 1900 while studying radiation emitted by radium. In 1903, Ernest Rutherford named this radiation gamma rays, Rutherford had previously discovered two other types of radioactive decay, which he named alpha and beta rays. Gamma rays are able to ionize atoms, and are thus biologically hazardous. The decay of a nucleus from a high energy state to a lower energy state. Natural sources of gamma rays on Earth are observed in the decay of radionuclides. There are rare terrestrial natural sources, such as lightning strikes and terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, However, a large fraction of such astronomical gamma rays are screened by Earths atmosphere and can only be detected by spacecraft. Gamma rays typically have frequencies above 10 exahertz, and therefore have energies above 100 keV and wavelengths less than 10 picometers, However, this is not a strict definition, but rather only a rule-of-thumb description for natural processes. Electromagnetic radiation from radioactive decay of nuclei is referred to as gamma rays no matter its energy. This radiation commonly has energy of a few hundred keV, in astronomy, gamma rays are defined by their energy, and no production process needs to be specified. The energies of gamma rays from astronomical sources range to over 10 TeV, a notable example is the extremely powerful bursts of high-energy radiation referred to as long duration gamma-ray bursts, of energies higher than can be produced by radioactive decay. These bursts of gamma rays are thought to be due to the collapse of stars called hypernovae, the first gamma ray source to be discovered historically was the radioactive decay process called gamma decay. In this type of decay, a nucleus emits a gamma ray almost immediately upon formation. Paul Villard, a French chemist and physicist, discovered gamma radiation in 1900, However, Villard did not consider naming them as a different fundamental type. Rutherford also noted that gamma rays were not deflected by a field, another property making them unlike alpha. Gamma rays were first thought to be particles with mass, like alpha, Rutherford initially believed that they might be extremely fast beta particles, but their failure to be deflected by a magnetic field indicated that they had no charge. In 1914, gamma rays were observed to be reflected from crystal surfaces, Rutherford and his coworker Edward Andrade measured the wavelengths of gamma rays from radium, and found that they were similar to X-rays, but with shorter wavelengths and higher frequency. This was eventually recognized as giving them more energy per photon
9.
X-ray astronomy
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X-ray astronomy is an observational branch of astronomy which deals with the study of X-ray observation and detection from astronomical objects. X-radiation is absorbed by the Earths atmosphere, so instruments to detect X-rays must be taken to high altitude by balloons, sounding rockets, and satellites. X-ray astronomy is the science related to a type of space telescope that can see farther than standard light-absorption telescopes, such as the Mauna Kea Observatories. X-ray emission is expected from astronomical objects that contain extremely hot gasses at temperatures from about a million kelvin to hundreds of millions of kelvin. Although X-rays have been observed emanating from the Sun since the 1940s and this source is called Scorpius X-1, the first X-ray source found in the constellation Scorpius. The X-ray emission of Scorpius X-1 is 10,000 times greater than its visual emission, in addition, the energy output in X-rays is 100,000 times greater than the total emission of the Sun in all wavelengths. Based on discoveries in this new field of X-ray astronomy, starting with Scorpius X-1 and it is now known that such X-ray sources as Sco X-1 are compact stars, such as neutron stars or black holes. Material falling into a hole may emit X-rays, but the black hole itself does not. The energy source for the X-ray emission is gravity, infalling gas and dust is heated by the strong gravitational fields of these and other celestial objects. Many thousands of X-ray sources are known, in addition, the space between galaxies in galaxy clusters is filled with a very hot, but very dilute gas at a temperature between 10 and 100 megakelvins. The total amount of hot gas is five to ten times the mass in the visible galaxies. The first sounding rocket flights for X-ray research were accomplished at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico with a V-2 rocket on January 28,1949. A detector was placed in the nose section and the rocket was launched in a suborbital flight to an altitude just above the atmosphere. X-rays from the Sun were detected by the U. S. Naval Research Laboratory Blossom experiment on board, an Aerobee 150 rocket was launched on June 12,1962 and it detected the first X-rays from other celestial sources. The largest drawback to rocket flights is their short duration. A rocket launched from the United States will not be able to see sources in the southern sky, in astronomy, the interstellar medium is the gas and cosmic dust that pervade interstellar space, the matter that exists between the star systems within a galaxy. It fills interstellar space and blends smoothly into the intergalactic medium. The interstellar medium consists of an extremely dilute mixture of ions, atoms, molecules, larger dust grains, cosmic rays, the energy that occupies the same volume, in the form of electromagnetic radiation, is the interstellar radiation field
10.
X-ray
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X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz, X-ray wavelengths are shorter than those of UV rays and typically longer than those of gamma rays. Spelling of X-ray in the English language includes the variants x-ray, xray, X-rays with high photon energies are called hard X-rays, while those with lower energy are called soft X-rays. Due to their ability, hard X-rays are widely used to image the inside of objects, e. g. in medical radiography. The term X-ray is metonymically used to refer to an image produced using this method. Since the wavelengths of hard X-rays are similar to the size of atoms they are useful for determining crystal structures by X-ray crystallography. By contrast, soft X-rays are easily absorbed in air, the length of 600 eV X-rays in water is less than 1 micrometer. There is no consensus for a definition distinguishing between X-rays and gamma rays, one common practice is to distinguish between the two types of radiation based on their source, X-rays are emitted by electrons, while gamma rays are emitted by the atomic nucleus. This definition has problems, other processes also can generate these high-energy photons. One common alternative is to distinguish X- and gamma radiation on the basis of wavelength, with radiation shorter than some arbitrary wavelength, such as 10−11 m and this criterion assigns a photon to an unambiguous category, but is only possible if wavelength is known. Occasionally, one term or the other is used in specific contexts due to precedent, based on measurement technique. Thus, gamma-rays generated for medical and industrial uses, for radiotherapy, in the ranges of 6–20 MeV. X-ray photons carry enough energy to ionize atoms and disrupt molecular bonds and this makes it a type of ionizing radiation, and therefore harmful to living tissue. A very high radiation dose over a period of time causes radiation sickness. In medical imaging this increased risk is generally greatly outweighed by the benefits of the examination. The ionizing capability of X-rays can be utilized in treatment to kill malignant cells using radiation therapy. It is also used for material characterization using X-ray spectroscopy, hard X-rays can traverse relatively thick objects without being much absorbed or scattered. For this reason, X-rays are widely used to image the inside of visually opaque objects, the most often seen applications are in medical radiography and airport security scanners, but similar techniques are also important in industry and research
, Bibcode:2005AJ....129.1993M, doi:10.1086/428488
