{"id":3608,"date":"2009-12-09T19:51:01","date_gmt":"2009-12-10T01:51:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thespacewriter.com\/wp\/?p=3608"},"modified":"2009-12-09T20:57:42","modified_gmt":"2009-12-10T02:57:42","slug":"chromatic-fantasies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thespacewriter.com\/wp\/2009\/12\/09\/chromatic-fantasies\/","title":{"rendered":"Chromatic Fantasies"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Universe in all Its Wavelengths<\/h2>\n
\"The
The EMS, courtesy LASP\/Univ. Colorado. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I mention this a lot in my public talks in various venues: that the sky we see with our eyes isn’t the sum total of the universe that can be detected.\u00a0 I’ll say it again, another way.\u00a0 When you look at the night sky with your eyes, you’re only seeing the universe through a very small window of emissions.<\/p>\n

Our eyes evolved to see essentially the “optical” wavelengths from the Sun.\u00a0 But, as any astronomer worth the term knows, objects and events in the universe radiate at many different wavelengths of light. And, some of those wavelengths aren’t detectable by our eyes — at all.\u00a0 You’ve probably heard of the other wavelengths of light — from gamma-ray and x-ray through ultraviolet, infrared, microwave, and radio. Every object radiates (emits or reflects) brightly in some part of the electromagnetic spectrum.<\/p>\n

For example, the Sun gives off infrared and ultraviolet, as well as x-rays and radio emissions. That’s in addition to the optical (visible) light it emits.<\/p>\n

Every wavelength radiated by an object tells us something about that object. You can learn about an object’s chemical composition, its temperature, its speed through space, its rotation rate, and even something about its magnetic field, all by studying the spectrum of light that it emits and\/or reflects.\u00a0 The procedure requires you to capture all the light you can, using whatever instruments you have that are sensitive to various wavelengths (and frequencies, in the case of radio astronomy).\u00a0 The data you gather (and I’m simplifying immensely here) contains a treasure trove of information about the object.<\/p>\n

Non-visual astronomy is complex to do, but it tells us so much more than we can ever learn by simply studying the cosmos in visible light. Nonetheless, there ARE ways we can “see” the universe in those other wavelengths, even if we don’t have radio-sensitive detectors, or infrared eyes or ultraviolet detectors or gamma-ray and x-ray instruments embedded in our bodies. Astronomers take the data from instruments sensitive to those parts of the electromagnetic spectrum and create “images” that our eyes recognize.\u00a0 They aren’t necessary how the object LOOKS in those wavelengths, but they help us folks with the limited eyeballs learn more about the universe.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A screenshot of the Chromoscope. Check it out! Click to embiggen.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Which brings me to the Chromoscope<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It’s an online viewer that you can use by simply navigating over to the site created for the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 09<\/a> by Stuart Lowe (Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics<\/a>), Chris North (Cardiff University<\/a>), and Robert Simpson (Cardiff University<\/a>). They\u00a0 made it available online and now YOU can explore the multi-wavelength sky.<\/p>\n

The heart of the Chromoscope is a set of\u00a0 public domain datasets from a number of all-sky astronomy projects. You can switch wavelengths and see for yourself how the appearance of the sky changes with each data set. There are currently seven included: gamma ray (Fermi), X-ray (ROSAT), H-alpha (WHAM), optical (DSS), infrared (IRAS), microwave (WMAP) and radio (Haslam). Head on over to the Chromoscope and explore the sky. Learn more about how scientists study the cosmos beyond our vision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Universe in all Its Wavelengths I mention this a lot in my public talks in various venues: that the sky we see with our eyes isn’t the sum total of the universe that can be detected.\u00a0 I’ll say it again, another way.\u00a0 When you look at the night sky with your eyes, you’re only … Continue reading Chromatic Fantasies<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}},"_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[449,450],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nChromatic Fantasies - The Spacewriter's Ramblings<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thespacewriter.com\/wp\/2009\/12\/09\/chromatic-fantasies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chromatic Fantasies - The Spacewriter's Ramblings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Universe in all Its Wavelengths I mention this a lot in my public talks in various venues: that the sky we see with our eyes isn’t the sum total of the universe that can be detected.\u00a0 I’ll say it again, another way.\u00a0 When you look at the night sky with your eyes, you’re only … Continue reading Chromatic Fantasies →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thespacewriter.com\/wp\/2009\/12\/09\/chromatic-fantasies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Spacewriter's Ramblings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-12-10T01:51:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2009-12-10T02:57:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/lasp.colorado.edu\/cassini\/images\/Electromagnetic%20Spectrum_noUVIS.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"C.C. 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