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--- courses:ast100:0.4 [2026/01/28 20:54] – [How Telescopes Work] asad
+++ courses:ast100:0.4 [2026/02/01 08:12] (current) – [What is Light?] asad
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 ===== What is Light? =====
-Light is a form of electromagnetic radiation (or waves) composed of rapidly fluctuating electric and magnetic fields that vibrate perpendicular to one another and to their direction of travel, moving through the vacuum of space at a constant, finite speed. This radiation arises whenever electrically charged particles, such as electrons, undergo acceleration or a change in motion; for instance, in a lightning bolt, accelerated charged particles release energy as visible light.
+{{https://resource.isvr.soton.ac.uk/spcg/tutorial/tutorial/Tutorial_files/light1.gif?nolink}}
+As shown in the bottom panel of the animation above, light is a form of electromagnetic radiation (or waves) composed of rapidly fluctuating electric (**E**) and magnetic (**B**) fields that vibrate perpendicular to one another and to their direction of travel, moving through the vacuum of space at a constant, finite speed, $c$. This radiation arises whenever electrically charged particles, such as **electrons**, undergo **acceleration** or a change in motion; for instance, in a lightning bolt, accelerated charged particles release energy as visible light.
 We characterize these waves by their **wavelength**—the distance between two consecutive wave crests—and their **frequency**, which is the number of crests that pass a specific point every second. These two properties share an inverse relationship, meaning that if you double the frequency, the wavelength is cut in half, because their combination must always equal the constant speed of light. Additionally, light behaves as discrete packets of energy known as photons, where the amount of energy carried is directly proportional to the frequency; consequently, radiation with a high frequency and short wavelength carries significantly more energy than radiation with a low frequency and long wavelength. The wavelength is measured in meters, frequency in hertz (Hz, cycles per second), and energy in joules.
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-To study the universe, astronomers use specialized tools tuned to different wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. This begins with radio waves, captured by instruments like [[https://www.astron.nl/telescopes/lofar/|LOFAR]] and the [[https://fast.bao.ac.cn/|Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST)]] to map interstellar gas and pulsars. For microwaves, the [[https://pole.uchicago.edu/|South Pole Telescope (SPT-3G)]] and the [[https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/planck|Planck satellite]] map the afterglow of the Big Bang. To capture infrared light, the [[https://webb.nasa.gov/|James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)]] observes stars and galaxies through cosmic dust. Visible light is primarily monitored by the ground-based [[https://www.keckobservatory.org/|Keck Observatory]] and the [[https://hubblesite.org/|Hubble Space Telescope]], with the [[https://www.lsst.org/|Vera C. Rubin Observatory]] leading wide-field surveys. In higher energies, the [[https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/galaxy-evolution-explorer-galex|Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)]] remains the definitive example for mapping the ultraviolet sky to study young stars, while the [[https://chandra.harvard.edu/|Chandra X-ray Observatory]] captures X-rays from black holes and supernova remnants. Finally, the high-energy universe is observed through the [[https://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/|Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope]] and the [[https://www.ctao.org/|Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO)]], which detect particles from cataclysmic cosmic events.
+To study the universe, astronomers use specialized tools tuned to different wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. This begins with radio waves, captured by instruments like [[https://www.astron.nl/telescopes/lofar/|LOFAR]] and the [[https://fast.bao.ac.cn/|Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST)]] to map interstellar gas and pulsars. For microwaves, the [[https://pole.uchicago.edu/|South Pole Telescope (SPT-3G)]] and the [[https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/planck|Planck satellite]] map the afterglow of the Big Bang. To capture infrared light, the [[https://webb.nasa.gov/|James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)]] observes stars and galaxies through cosmic dust. Visible light is monitored, for example, by the ground-based [[https://www.keckobservatory.org/|Keck Observatory]] and the [[https://hubblesite.org/|Hubble Space Telescope]], with the [[https://www.lsst.org/|Vera C. Rubin Observatory]] leading wide-field surveys. In higher energies, the [[https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/galaxy-evolution-explorer-galex|Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)]] remains an important example for mapping the ultraviolet sky to study young stars, while the [[https://chandra.harvard.edu/|Chandra X-ray Observatory]] captures X-rays from black holes and supernova remnants. Finally, the extremely high-energy universe is observed through the [[https://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/|Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope]], and the [[https://www.ctao.org/|Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO)]] that detects particles from cataclysmic cosmic events.
 {{:courses:ast100:telescope.webp?nolink|}}