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--- courses:ast201:2 [2023/06/13 21:42] – [3.2 Surface brightness] asad
+++ courses:ast201:2 [2023/10/04 00:39] (current) – [1. Probes in astronomy] asad
@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 ===== - Probes in astronomy =====
+Astronomy deals with particles or waves of matter or energy coming from outer space. Many of the fundamental particles illustrated in the **standard model of particle physics** below can be found in space.
+{{https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/00/Standard_Model_of_Elementary_Particles.svg/803px-Standard_Model_of_Elementary_Particles.svg.png?nolink&500}}
+Quarks are not found in isolation, but in packets called protons or neutrons. We detect mostly protons from space using specialized detectors. Among the leptons, electrons and neutrinos are the most common particles found streaming through space. Quarks and leptons are particles of matter ([[wp>fermions]], named after [[wp>Enrico Fermi]]) and they are commonly called **cosmic rays** in astronomy; **cosmic-ray astronomy** is a large community.
+The particles of energy or force carriers ([[wp>bosons]], named after [[wp>Satyendranath Bose]]) constitute two more communities within astronomy. The **photons** or **electromagnetic waves** create the largest community of astronomers and they are the ones who use **telescopes**. The **gravitational waves** are detected by specialized detectors creating the most recent community of astronomy and astrophysics. Note that only the photon collectors and detectors are called telescopes, the detectors of cosmic rays or gravitational waves are simply called detectors.
+Fermions are massive, bosons are massless. The two are described below in the context of observational astronomy.
 ==== - Massive particles ====
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 ==== - As a particle ====
+From the beginning of the twentieth century, quantum mechanics claimed that there are situations where light cannot be described as a wave, but rather as a stream of particles called **photons**.
+The energy of a photon, however, is related to the frequency of the light when it exhibits its wave property according to the equation
 $$ E = h\nu = \frac{hc}{\lambda} $$
+where $h=6.626\times 10^{-34}$ J s is Planck's constant.
 ==== - As a ray ====
 Photometry