Optical and Non-Optical

Astronomy
Prepared by
Ashutosh Pattnaik
Contents
• Objective
• Introduction
• Types of Observatories
• Real astronomical data analysis
• Astronomy in multiple wavelength range and techniques used in
them
• My point of view on “why we should study astronomy”
Objective of this seminar
• To give a basic insight on the techniques used in modern astronomy
and through out the whole seminar answer one of the most obvious
but important question
“Why studying astronomy is necessary? and why we are to investing
huge amount of money to study the objects which are millions of light
years away from us?”
What is astronomy ?
• Astronomy is the study of celestial objects and phenomena and their
evolution.
• On the basis of the visibility of the Electromagnetic radiation or any
particle used to detect celestial objects Astronomy can be broadly
divided into two subdivisions. Optical and Non-Optical astronomy.
Astronomy

Optical Non optical

astronomy astronomy
 Why Non-Optical Astronomy ?
• The visible wavelength region of Electromagnetic spectrum is roughly
in between 400 nm to 800 nm, which is just a very small subset of the
entire spectrum.
• We collect lot of information(molecular composition, size, mass ,
temperature etc) about the celestial objects just by analyzing the Light
coming from them, hence we need to analyse both optical and non
optical signals coming from the celestial objects to get a better
understanding of them.
ElectroMagnetic spectrum
Spectra of Stars
What an Astronomer does ?
Astronomer/
Detective Cosmic Detective

Investigates Sends probes to

crime scene deep space
Forms Forms
Hypothesis Hypothesis
Verifies Hypothesis
Verifies
No Hypothesis No

Eureka! Hypothesis
Hypothesis
Verified
Verified
Yes yes
How Modern Astronomy is done ?

Corelator/CCD/ Image
Telescope Interferometer
Sensor
Types of Telescopes /Observatories
• There are four types of observatories each for different purpose of
operation.
1. Underground Observatories
2. Ground Based Observatories
3. Airborne Observatories
4. Space Based Observatories

PAN-STARRS Observatory
Space Based and airborne Infrared Observatory

Wide Infrered Survey Explorer Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA)
Super-Kamiokande Neutrino Observatory
Comparison of Optical and Non-Optical image of M65

3.4 and 8 Micro meter composite image of M-65 Image of M65 in Visible wavelength
Image forming and analysis
True , False and Pseudo Color Images
IR Optical UV image generation Using NASA Skyview
Survey

Snapshot of NASA Skyview survey

NGC 5426 (Wise 12, DSS2 Red , Galex far UV)

Analysis
• There are two spiral galaxy(SB catagory) merging under influence of their
gravitational force.
• The Green colour In the inner region of the arms represents radiation with
red wavelength. Hence these regions could be due to old stars. The
yellowish green region on the other hand represents 12 micrometer IR
wavelength along with red, hence it could be due to molecular cloud.
• The Outer arms are blue in colour hence representing Near UV wavelength
radiation. Which can be due to young stars. Its temperature can be
calculated using Wein’s law.
• The blue blobs in between the greenish blue hue at the merging region
represents the accelerated star formation due to compression of molecular
gas clouds.
 From Wein’s Law
Λm T = 2.898* 10^ -3

True colour Peak wavelength λm Absolute temperature of Type of star

surface
Red 650-780 nm 4458- 3715 K Old star
Blue 480 nm 6037.5 K Young star
Far UV 300-200 nm 9660-14490 K Very hot Young stars
Spectroscopy
• The study of spectrum coming from stars , galaxies etc in order to
extract information such as temperature, Mass , Size , velocity ,
Molecular Composition etc is called Astronomical Spectroscopy.
Absorption and Emission Spectra

Continous Spectrum

Absorption Spectrum

Emission Spectrum
Red Shift
• Whenever a source is going away from earth the wavelength of light
coming from that source increases This is called as Redshift
• It is named like this because if we observe the absorption or emission
spectrum of that source we will find The absorption or emission lines
are shifted towards red
• Redshift can be used to determine the
velocity and the distance of the source
from earth.
Analysis of NGC 5426 using its redshift
• The observed value of redshift of NGC 5426 from NED database is
found to be Z= 0.008579, Velocity V=2572 Km and the galaxy distance
is found to be 127 M LY

• we can calculate the above mentioned parameters and check

whether the calculated values match observed values.
• Taking Hubble Constant H=73 km/s /M Pc ( M Pc= 3.09* 10^19 km)
Red shift Z Velocity V0 Distance D
0.008579 2573km/s 120.9 M LY
Asteroid Hunting using PAN-STARRS data
Radio Astronomy
• Electromagnetic radiation with lower energy or higher wavelength
have a tendency to scatter less and travel longer distance with lesser
attenuation.
• The radio wavelength ranges from few millimeters to at max
thousands of km.
• Because of these properties Radio waves can give us information
about the celestial objects whose light could not reach us otherwise
through intergalactic material using optical telescope.
• There are some interesting phenomena that occur in nature such as
Synchrotron radiation from radio galaxies, Pulsars etc which can’t be
seen using optical telescopes but Radio waves can give us insight
about these phenomenons.
Synchrotron Radiation in Active Galactic Nuclei
• When Observed through Non Optical EMR (Radio waves, Xray etc)
some galaxies show features like relativistic jets. Sometimes these jets
are also visible in Optical wavelengths too.
• However the mechanism of the formation of the jet is not yet
completely understood, The most accepted model is the synchrotron
radiation model.[1,2]
• Synchrotron radiation is a Non thermal radiation[3] emitted by
charged particle revolving around a magnetic field(perpendicular to
its velocity) with a relativistic speed.
Synchrotron Radiation in Active Galactic Nuclei
Synchrotron Radiation in Active Galactic Nuclei
• There are certain features of the relativistic jet which can be explained
Using the synchrotron radiation model, such as
1. Broad Spectrum (which covers from microwaves to hard X-rays): the
users can select the wavelength required for their experiment;
2. High Flux: high intensity photon beam allows rapid experiments or use
of weakly scattering crystals
3. Polarization: both linear and circular
4. Pulsed Time Structure: pulsed length down to tens of picoseconds
allows the resolution of process on the same time scale.
Classification of Radio Galaxies on the basis of
Relativistic jets

FR1 radio galaxy FR2 radio galaxy

Radio Galaxy image generation using GMRT data

3C31 radio
galaxy
3.4 Micro meter wavelength data of 3C31 Radio galaxy
with TGSS contour
WISE 12 Micrometer , GMRT data with TGSS Contour
of 3C98
Challenges in Radio Astronomy
• The angular resolution of any telescope depends on the wavelength
that it operates on and the diameter of its aperture.

• As wavelength of radio waves are really high hence we need to get a

higher diameter to get a suitable resolution. such a radio telescope
will require diameter of aperture in kilometers range. Which is
practically impossible That is why we use a techniques called
radio interferometry.
Radio Interferometry
• Instead of making a single radio telescope with huge aperture we can
make an array of radio telescopes then interfere(using Aperture
synthesis) the radio signal obtained from them electronically[4] .

• This arrangement may give resolution as high as a huge radio

telescope but it wont collect as much radio waves as a single big
radio telescope would do.
Radio Interferometry

Path difference between signals received

by telescopes
Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope(GMRT)
• GMRT is located at Khodad, India. It is basically an array of 30 radio
telescopes with 45 meter diameter, providing a Baseline of 25 kms.
• Having such a large baseline it is one of the best resolution radio
telescope in the world. It can give at max 2arc second resolution at
1.4 GHz. [7]
• As this operates in meter wave range there is no manmade radio
interference with the telescope’s signal.
Comparison of resolution of GMRT and NVSS
3C465 In TGSS 3C465 in NVSS
 Infrared Astronomy

• As higher wavelength scatter

less, The infrared signal
coming from stars and other
celestial objects pass through
the molecular clouds and are
observed at infrared
observatories.
• Early Galaxies or Far Away
Galaxies are Redshifted to
Infrared.
• As exoplanets are brighter in
infrared hence Infrared light
can be used to detect
Exoplanets via Direct Imaging.
• Bio Organic molecules can be
detected from atmosphere of
Exoplanets,to search for life in
exoplanets.
• Asteroids and comets are
visible in Infrared.
Exoplanets revolving around
their star
Near Infrered spectra of organic molecules
James Webb Space Telescope
• As Water Vapor in earth’s atmosphere obstructs Infrared signal, Most
of Infrared Observatories are Placed In Higher altitudes and dry areas
, or In air above the water Vapor (SOFIA), or space (SPITZER,WISE)
• JWST is long awaited Infrared telescope planned to be launched in
2021 by NASA. It is an Infrared telescope which will be used for
exoplanet detection.
Optical Astronomy
• Optical telescope collects light in visible wavelength range and form
images
• As the wavelength of operation is small of the order of micro meters
we can get really high resolution images with a smaller aprature than
radio telescopes.
Challenges in Optical astronomy
1. Atmospheric seeing
• As the atmosphere surrounding us is not uniform every where(in
composition, temperature, density)the refractive index of different
regions of air varies too. This causes the images obtained of any
celestial object Jiggle. This is called as Atmospheric Seeing.
• This can be resolved using Aperture masking[] or Adaptive Optics []

2. High maintainance
 Aperture masking
• Aperture masking interferometry is a form of
speckle interferometry, that allows diffraction
limited imaging from ground-based
telescopes [5]
• Here We The Aperture is covered with a
perforated mask. Light can only pass through
the holes. Hence allowing us to click a
number of short exposure images which
reduce atmospheric seeing appreciably and
increases the resolution of telescope.
Adaptive Optics
UV Astronomy
• Almost all the UV light coming from sun or any other celestial object
do not enter into our atmosphere, That’s why the UV telescopes orbit
around earth in space ,beyond our atmosphere.
• Very young stars, Hot and dense regions of the merging galaxies etc
are studied in UV astronomy.
• Most of the light is scattered in the interstellar medium.
GALEX Telescope
Determination of Radius of object through Luminosity
• Luminosity of a star is linked with its radius is as follows
Why astronomy
• The extreme conditions such as high electron degeneracy of a white dwarf,
extreme temperature and pressure inside a star ,or supernovae They can
not be created inside our labs. Hence to study the physics at such limits we
need to study astronomy
• Nowadays the study of astronomy is not only limited to twinkling stars,
with advancement of science and technology modern astronomy at certain
level require interdisciplinary study. The development in astronomy has
lead to some groundbreaking discoveries in other fields too
• For instance the discovery of C60 was first inspired by suspicious optical
extinction curve of interstellar dust [8]. Now Fullerene is one of the most
important carbon allotrope having application in Medical science ,Material
science and Chemistry
Extinction curve of C60
• Even if we survive from man made damages to the environment still
there are significant number of celestial Threats which can completely
wipeout human race.
• Although it seems like science fiction but the potential threat of
Asteroid impact , Growth of suns surface in red giant phase etc can
not be ignored. We need sufficient time and advancement of our
technology In order to survive.
• We wont be able to save human race if there wont be a human race
to be survived. Our approach have to be multi directional.
ANY QUESTIONS
Acknowledgement
Dr Anand Hota
Astronomer/
Principal Director
RAD@Home India
Reference
1. https://youtu.be/FnYNjKabmxU
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchrotron_radiation
3. http://www.grandunification.com/hypertext/NonthermalThermalR
adiation.html
4. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEv8xLSYB8BN36jzVI-
aQoPibDftNukxh
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aperture_masking_interferometry
6. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_optics
7. http://gmrt.ncra.tifr.res.in/gmrt_hpage/GMRT/intro_gmrt.html
8- H. W. Kroto, J. R. Heath, S. C. O'Brien, R. F. Curl, R. E. Smalley, Nature
318, 162 (1985)
9- W. Kratschmer, L. D. Lamb, K. Fostiropoulos, D. R. Huffman, Nature
347, 354 (1990)
10- Donald R. Huffman, Physics Today 44, 11, 22 (1991)
11- Buckminsterfullerene (C60),
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRFAeCBIRZrY8YcuLomFU1g
 Thank you
for your time and patience