04 Observational Techniques
1. Recording Light
A light collector whose main function is to capture as many photons as possible from a given region of the sky and concentrate them into a focused beam for analysis.
point ➤ collect ➤ focus
Optical Telescope: It is the one designed to collect wavelengths of radiation that are visible to human eye.
Mirror size "increases" ➤ amount of collected light "increases"
Telescope Types
Refracting: a lens focuses the light
Reflecting: a mirror focuses the light
Instrument Types
Photometer.
Measures "light". It measures the total amount of light received in all or part of the image.
Spectrometer.
Measures "spectrum". It distributes the total energy into its wavelengths creating a spectrum.
2. Telescopes
Refraction vs Reflection
Large lenses cannot be constructed
the lens in a refracting telescope focuses Red and Blue light differently. This deficiency is known as chromatic aberration.
You can correct but cannot eliminate
As light passes through the lens some of it is absorbed by the glass. This is important for IR and UV observations.
No such effect occurs for mirrors
Lenses are heavy
Both sides of lenses have to be processed but for mirrors only one side has to be managed.
Effect of Refraction. Red/Blue light focuses at different points after it is refracted. This is called chormatic aberration.
Types of Telescope Designs
Prime Focus
Single reflection from the primary mirror. Difficult to orient and observe
Newtonian.
Double reflection. The light beam is directed outside of the tube, just before it is focused using a secondary mirror.
Cassegrain.
Double reflection. The same as Newtonian however the light beam is reflected back to the primary which passes through the hole at the center of the primary.
Nasmyth / Coude.
Triple reflection. The same as Cassegrain however the light beam is deflected outside the tube before it reaches to the primary.
Special Telescopes
Schmidt.
A coma (bright central object having a tailed structure) appears as we move away from the center of the field of view. Its size increases further away from the center.
To correct the coma a correcting lens introduced right before the beam enters to the tube: Schmidt Telescopes.
Their constructions are expensive (mirror + lens). However, produced image quality is high. They are mostly used in surveys and astro-photography.
Telescope Size
Mirror size increases
➤ Amount of collected light increases
Therefore:
Observed brightness
∝ Area of the mirror (D x D)
Faster Collection: Mirror is said to be collecting light fast if its mirror size is large
Size Comparison. (b) Taken with a mirror size twice as (a)
3. Power of Telescopes
Resolving Power
The ability of any optical device to form distinct, separate images of objects lying close together in field of view.
Finer Resolution
➤ Better distinguishing the objects
Angular Resolution: It is the factor that determines our ability to see the fine structure.
Objects "close together"
➤ Objects are separated by "a small angle"
Resolution
is proportional with wavelength and
is inversely proportional with to mirror size
Effect of Improving Resolution. Resolutions of 10', 1', 5", 1" from (a) to (d), respectively.
Resolving Power. From (a) to (c) resolving power of the telescope increases.
Limit of Resolution
Diffraction (bending of light around corners) causes parallel beam of light to spread out slightly
➤ beam is not focused to a sharp point
➤ a fuzziness created
Degree of Fuzziness ➤ Determines the angular resolution of telescope
Therefore;
Amount of Diffraction ∝ Wavelength of Radiation / Diameter
As wavelength increases (i.e. observing the objects in red part of the spectrum)
➤ diffraction increases
➤ angular resolution (as a value) increases
➤ therefore resolving the objects gets worse
4. Very Large Telescopes
Mirrors are made from quartz blocks
One needs years of engineering to construct just the mirror of the telescope.
The largest single mirror telescope is BTA-6 (6 meters) in Zelenchukskaya, Caucasus build in 1976. Next largest is Hale Telescope (5 meters) in Palomar Observatory, California constructed in 1948!
How to increase the diameter of a telescope today?
Use smaller sized mirrors as segments
Combine them in an hexagonal (like a honeycomb) construction and align them to focus like a single mirror.
This type of telescopes are called segmented mirror telescopes.
Using this type of construction mirror size can be increased tens of meters. Examples:
twin Keck telescopes (Mauna Kea, Hawaii - 36 x 1.8 m = 10 m) - constructed in 1992/1996
GTC (Canary Island, Spain - 36 segments = 10 m) - constructed in 2009
© 2023 ATASAM - DAG (Doğu Anadolu Gözlemevi - Eastern Anatolia Observatory). 4 m Telescope with 2 Nasmyth Platforms.
5. High Resolution Observations
In theory you can reach 0.02" with a 5 meter telescope. But in reality you cannot do better than 1".
Reason: Earth's turbulent atmosphere which blurs the image even before the light reaches our instrument.
Blurring: The light from the star is refracted slightly in the atmosphere.
➤ the stellar image dances around on the detector (or on our retina)
➤ creating twinkling of stars.
So;
on a good night
at the best observing site
the best angular resolution is slightly < 1"
This creates what is called seeing:
If you take the photo of this twinkling (see the Figure):
The disk where the star's light is spread over is called seeing disk.
So, to achieve the best possible seeing, telescopes are sited
on mountain tops,
in regions of the world where atmosphere is known to be fairly stable and
relatively free of dust,
free of moisture and
away from the light pollution from cities.
Current best resolutions
Hubble Space Telescope - 2.4 meter - 0.05"
NTT (Chile) - 3.5 meter - 0.5" (active optics)
Keck Telescopes - 10.0 meter - 0.25"
Active Optics
Control mirrors based on temperature and orientation
Adaptive Optics
Track atmospheric changes with laser; adjust mirrors in real time.
Adaptive Optics in Action (a) The improvement in image quality produced by such systems can be seen in these images acquired by the 8-m Gemini telescope atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The uncorrected visible-light image (left) of the star cluster NGC 6934 is resolved to a little less than 1”. With adaptive optics applied (right), the resolution in the infrared is improved by nearly a factor of 10, allowing more stars to be seen more clearly. (b) These visible-light images were acquired at a military observatory atop Mount Haleakala
in Maui, Hawaii. The uncorrected image (left) of the double star Castor is a blur spread over several arc seconds, giving only a hint of its binary nature. With adaptive compensation applied (right), the resolution is improved to a mere 0.1”, and the two stars are clearly separated.
6. Radio Astronomy
Radio Telescopes collects photons at radio frequencies:
Jansky discovered (in 1931) a faint static "hiss" that had no apparent terrestrial source.
It is then identified as a space source which is now known that it was the Galactic Center.
Their working principles are the same as reflecting telescopes
Radio telescopes use prime focus.
However to change the frequency you have to re-tune the instrument.
However, since radio wavelengths are longer than visible they are less sensitive to imperfections and therefore they can be made very large:
Resolution ~ Wavelength / Diameter
The best angular resolution is around 10".
Note that the radio radiation arriving at Earth is < E-12 W.
Arecibo Observatory. An aerial photograph of the 300-m-diameter dish at the National Astronomy and Ionospheric Center near Arecibo, Puerto Rico. The receivers that detect the focused radiation are suspended nearly 150 m above the center of the dish.
Longer wavelength means poor angular resolution. However, radio astronomy has different advantages too:
Observations can be carried out for 24 hours.
Cloud, rain and snow don't interfere the observation
It creates another world at an invisible wavelength to human vision.
7. Interferometry
Definition: Combine information from several widely spread radio telescopes as if they came from a single dish (like a segmented optical telescope)
Resolution will be that of dish whose diameter = largest separation between dishes.g
Interferometry involves combining signals from two receivers; the amount of interference depends on the direction of the signal.
Interferometry can get radio images whose resolution is close to optical (similar to using adaptive optics)
Interferometry can also be done with visible light but is much more difficult due to shorter wavelengths.
8. Multi-wavelength Astronomy
9. Space-based Astronomy
