Radio Astronomy
Ever since ancient people looked up to the stars, there were those who wondered how we could learn more about the nature of our universe. The light that travels from the farthest reaches of our Milky Way galaxy and beyond, was something that early telescope makers wanted to capture. And there is no doubt that the visual part of the electro-magnetic spectrum has given us great insights into the structure of our universe, especially as telescopes grew larger to look further. The greatest of these instruments is the recently commissioned Vera C. Rubin Telescope in Chile.
In more recent decades we have put telescopes into space (above the limitations of the earth's atmospheric interference), and so we have learned even more from the Hubble Space Telescope, named after Edwin Hubble (1889-1953), the lawyer turned astronomer who discovered that the universe is expanding all the time. Lately, the great discoveries have been made by the James Webb Space Telescope. This telescope can see so far back into the past that it has created serious problems for the current scientific models of the cosmos (i.e. it has found galaxies even older than the Big Bang! Some astronomers now believe these might be remnants of previous universes).
Radio astronomy also intercepts electromagnetic radiation, but these waves are very long in frequency and cannot be seen with optical telescopes. In 1933, Karl Jansky (1905-1950) of Bell Laboratories, discovered that objects in the universe were emitting radio waves. By intercepting these signals (a naturally occurring phenomenon that has nothing at all to do with aliens trying to contact us), it was possible to map parts of the universe that were unable to be seen in optical telescopes. And before the very large optical arrays we have these days, radio telescopes could "see" back much further in time.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_astronomy
No AI was used in the making of these photos or in the writing of the descriptions. It is all my own work.
Radio Astronomy
Ever since ancient people looked up to the stars, there were those who wondered how we could learn more about the nature of our universe. The light that travels from the farthest reaches of our Milky Way galaxy and beyond, was something that early telescope makers wanted to capture. And there is no doubt that the visual part of the electro-magnetic spectrum has given us great insights into the structure of our universe, especially as telescopes grew larger to look further. The greatest of these instruments is the recently commissioned Vera C. Rubin Telescope in Chile.
In more recent decades we have put telescopes into space (above the limitations of the earth's atmospheric interference), and so we have learned even more from the Hubble Space Telescope, named after Edwin Hubble (1889-1953), the lawyer turned astronomer who discovered that the universe is expanding all the time. Lately, the great discoveries have been made by the James Webb Space Telescope. This telescope can see so far back into the past that it has created serious problems for the current scientific models of the cosmos (i.e. it has found galaxies even older than the Big Bang! Some astronomers now believe these might be remnants of previous universes).
Radio astronomy also intercepts electromagnetic radiation, but these waves are very long in frequency and cannot be seen with optical telescopes. In 1933, Karl Jansky (1905-1950) of Bell Laboratories, discovered that objects in the universe were emitting radio waves. By intercepting these signals (a naturally occurring phenomenon that has nothing at all to do with aliens trying to contact us), it was possible to map parts of the universe that were unable to be seen in optical telescopes. And before the very large optical arrays we have these days, radio telescopes could "see" back much further in time.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_astronomy
No AI was used in the making of these photos or in the writing of the descriptions. It is all my own work.