ASTR 511 (O'Connell) Lecture Notes


1: INTRODUCTION TO
UVOIR ASTRONOMY



Milky Way from CTIO

Southern Milky Way from CTIO


I. WHY UVOIR?

A. Definition

B. Uniqueness

STARS

Solar SED  
PLASMAS (to 105K)

 


===> UVOIR observations/identifications are almost always prerequisites to a thorough understanding of cosmic sources in other EM bands.
    • Stars are the basic building blocks of the universe (even if not the most important by mass)

    • For instance, stars establish fundamental cosmic age and distance scales

    • Example: Gamma Ray Burst sources first detected in 1970's, but only physically interpreted after optical ID's in 1997.
 
12/97 GRB

First optical ID of a GRB.
Click for info.


II. KINDS OF UVOIR OBSERVATIONS

  • Imaging: distribution of EM energy on celestial sphere
  • Astrometry : a sub-class of imaging: precision measures of positions & motions
  • Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs): distribution of EM energy with frequency
    • Photometry (low resolution)
    • Spectroscopy (higher resolution)
  • Variability
  • Polarimetry


III. PRIORITY OF OBSERVATIONS IN ASTRONOMY

Astronomy is driven more by new observational discoveries than by fundamental interpretive insights (i.e. theory). Direction of field shaped by observations in about 3/4 of instances.

Few important astronomical discoveries were predicted; many were actually accidental

Examples: (technique/original motivation in parentheses)

  • Uranus (visual telescopic sky-scan)
  • Expanding universe (faint galaxy spectroscopic survey)
  • Pulsars (radio scintillation observations)
  • Supermassive black holes/AGN's (radio surveys, optical spectroscopic surveys)
      Although nuclear activity had been recognized since the 1940's (Seyfert), its prevalence and significance was not understood until radio observations in the 1950's-60's, especially of the compact Quasi Stellar Objects.
  • Large scale structure (redshift surveys aimed at measuring galaxy luminosity function)
  • Dark matter in spiral galaxies: flat rotation curves (optical/radio spectroscopy)
  • X-ray emitting gas in clusters of galaxies (early X-ray surveys)
  • Gamma ray bursts (military satellites looking for clandestine nuclear tests)
  • Extra-solar planets (optical spectroscopic monitoring)
      There was a general expectation that these existed, based on the Copernican Principle, for example. But theoreticians predicted that massive planets could exist only at large distances from parent stars, implying 5-year or longer survey periods.
  • High redshift evolution of galaxies: "Butcher-Oemler effect" & "faint blue galaxies" (deep optical imaging)
      HST contributions were actually hindered by theoretical prejudice. A deep pencil-beam survey was delayed by 5 years.

Counterexamples: theory-driven discoveries

  • Neptune
  • General relativistic distortion of space-time near Sun
  • 21 cm line of HI
  • Helioseismology
  • Cosmic microwave background
      Predicted 1948. Actual discovery 16 years later was accidental, but a second team was preparing a deliberate search and would have been successful.

Priority of observations means that all astronomers, observers or not, must know how to interpret and critically evaluate them and must stay alert for the new opportunities they present.

    What's meaningful? What's not? What's real vs. what's noise? How big are systematic errors? What's interesting? What's right?

        Example 1: what is this? how was it made? what do the colors mean?
        Example 2: what does this diagram test? what important physical implications?
        Example 3: what causes the scatter in this diagram?
        Example 4: is there a statistically meaningful result here? what is it?
        Example 5: classic example of systematic error
        Example 6: discovery of the year or statistical fluke?

NB: Champion "discoverer" of 20th century was Fritz Zwicky. Discovered dark matter; inaugurated research on supernovae & clusters of galaxies; predicted neutron stars & gravitational lenses.


IV. HISTORICAL LESSON: TECHNOLOGY DRIVES DISCOVERY

Most groundbreaking discoveries are enabled by NEW observational capabilities.

  • Local example: HEMT detectors from NRAO CDL enabled current generation of CMB experiments

Key technology development for UVOIR astronomy:

  • 17th century: telescopes

  • 19th century: spectroscopy, photography, quality lens making, large structure engineering

  • 20th century: large mirror fabrication, electronic detectors, digital computers, space astronomy

  • Since 1980: array detectors

 		 
Mt. Wilson 100-in

Mt. Wilson 100-in. Discovered external
galaxies, expanding universe.


UVOIR telescope size: determines ultimate sensitivity

  • Diameter doubling time ~45 years

  • Largest scopes now 8-10m diam

      Collecting area of 10-m is 4×106 that of the dark-adapted eye

  • In planning: 15-m to 40-m

  • For a given technology, cost

      Cost is roughly proportional to mass. Even using new technologies, next generation of large ground-based telescopes will cross the $1 billion threshold.

     
     
Growth in TelDia
Other key developments:

  • Sky surveys

    • First: Hipparchus, 130 BC. Thousands since.

    • Two most important in 20th century:

      • Henry Draper Catalog [HD] (all-sky, stellar spectra) ===> stellar astrophysics.

      • Palomar 48-in Schmidt Sky Survey [POSS] & southern counterparts (all-sky, deep imaging) ===> source for identification of all types of stars, clusters, nebulae, and extragalactic systems. Online version: Digitized Sky Survey.

    • Large format, 2-D array detectors are driving current explosion in imaging/spectroscopic sky surveys (e.g. 2dF, SDSS, 2MASS, and many others, often with cutie-pie names)

  • Classification systems (e.g. HD stellar spectral classification, ca. 1890; Hubble galaxy classification, ca. 1920)


V. FLUX MEASUREMENTS IN ASTRONOMY

A. Signal-to-Noise Ratio

"Sensitivity"---i.e. the faintest source measurable---is not simply a matter of the size of the photon collector.

It is instead a signal-to-noise issue:

  • SNR (or "S/N")   =   value measured / uncertainty in measure

  • Depends on structure of source (point vs. extended), nature of luminous background & surroundings, foreground absorption, telescope & instrument throughput, characteristics of detectors (quantum efficiency, noise)

  • Fundamental limits from photon statistics

    • ,   where N is number of detected source photons

B. Typical SNR's in Astronomy:

  • Some things are known exactly (SNR is infinite)

    • Sun is a star
    • Only one star interior to Earth's orbit
    • No new elements possible lighter than Uranium

  • High precision measures: e.g. length of AU; period of pulsars. SNR > 107.

  • Measures of astronomical EM fluxes:

    • Best precision: SNR ~ 1000 (0.1% error)

      • Low by lab standards! Problems: difficulty of calibration; faintness of interesting sources.

    • Typical "good" measures: SNR ~ 20-30

    • Threshold detections: SNR ~ 5-10

C. The Magnitude System: see Lecture 2.

D. Backgrounds

  • Even when source fluxes are appreciable, detection can be inhibited by luminous backgrounds, which reduce SNR. Become important when:

      (background flux)resol-element   ~   (source flux)resol-element

  • Diffuse backgrounds, e.g.:

      UVOIR: artificial light pollution + Earth's atmosphere + ecliptic scattered sunlight + scattered Galactic light

      Far IR: interstellar "cirrus" = warm dust

      Radio: Cosmic Microwave Background

  • Discrete source backgrounds, e.g.:

      Exclusion zone around bright stars caused by scattered light within instrument

      Source "confusion" caused by diffractive blending of multiple faint sources


VI. LIMITS OF OBSERVATIONAL CAPABILITY

A. EM Wavelength Coverage

B. Point Source Sensitivity

    Faintest UVOIR point source detected:

    • Naked eye:     5-6 mag
    • Galileo telescope (1610):     8-9 mag
    • Palomar 5-m (1948):    21-22 mag (pg),
                                            25-26 mag (CCD)
    • Keck 10-m (1992):     27-28 mag
    • HST (2.4-m in space, 1990):     29-30 mag

    NB: current optical detectors have ~ 100% quantum efficiency. Therefore, we can't improve sensitivity via detector development. In UV, IR there is room for detector improvement.


C. Spatial Resolution

  • Fundamental limit governed by diffraction in telescope/instruments: minimum image diameter is given by:

          radians

    where D is the diameter of the telescope aperture

  • At 5500 Å,
  • Inside Earth's atmosphere, turbulence strongly affects image diameter.

      Resulting image blur & motion is called "seeing", and typically yields:

      ... i.e. spatial resolution in most instances is governed by the atmosphere, not the telescope. (Much effort is now aimed at turbulence control near telescopes.)

  • Best UVOIR images: HST, ~ 0.06" (~ a quarter at 90 km)

    • Best overall: VLBA (~ 0.001")---but limited to very high surface brightness radio sources (rare)

  • Anticipated ground-based (8-m) single-aperture "adaptive optics" systems: 0.05" over limited fields (in NIR, but probably not for < 1µ)

  • Anticipated UVOIR interferometers: 0.001"


D. Spectral Resolution

  • Theoretical maximum governed by diffraction in optical components, but practical limit set by photon rates. High resolution devices are typically photon-starved (except for Sun).

  • ID's, surveys, classification at low resolution (10-5000 Å)

  • Physical analysis at moderate-to-high resolution (0.01-10 Å)

  • Highest to date: ~ 0.001 Å


E. Other Properties : e.g. polarization, variability


F. Examples of Background-Induced Selection Effects
    Galaxy surface-brightness selection, shown in the "Arp Diagram" (Arp 1965):

    • Diagram shows that identified galaxies occupy a relatively small range of parameter space, bounded by the night sky surface brightness on one side and the spatial resolution of survey telescopes on the other.

    • Example of a previously-concealed class of galaxies: "ultracompact dwarf galaxies" (Drinkwater et al. 2003)
    Brown dwarf companions to bright stars

      Brown dwarf companions can be 103 to 106 times fainter than their primary stars. Scattered light from primary inhibits searches. For detection by direct imaging, require a scattered light suppression technique. Same problem, much worse, affects search for Earthlike planets in orbit around nearby stars.

 		   
G229B



VII. NON-EM CONVEYORS OF COSMIC INFORMATION

Most astrophysical information is derived from the study of electromagnetic waves propagating over significant distances. However, there are several niches where important information is, or could be, conveyed by other means. For a list, click here.


Related pages:

References:

  • LLM, Chapter 1

  • Harwit, Cosmic Discovery [QB43.2.H37]

  • "99 Things About the Last 100 Years of Astronomy," V. Trimble, Mercury, Nov-Dec 99, p. 17.

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Last modified August 2003 by rwo

Text copyright © 2000-2003 Robert W. O'Connell. All rights reserved. These notes are intended for the private, noncommercial use of students enrolled in Astronomy 511 at the University of Virginia.