Radio Astronomy

Radio Astronomy: For most of us, the idea of ​​astronomy is something that we directly associate with "star observation", a telescope and see amazing displays in heaven. And of course, it's an exciting field of astronomy that makes it very popular. So for those who don't know, the idea of ​​"Radio Astronomy" seems strange. There are two reasons for that. First is that humans are far more visual than audio oriented. And the second is that radio astronomy does not really involve "listening" to the cosmos except to the extent that scientists who use this sophisticated form of "star observation" do not depend on visual studies to do their work.

Radio Astronomy

To appreciate what is really interesting about Radio Astronomy, we must first change the way we view astronomy. That's because for professional astronomers, studying the universe is more about frequency than about visual documentation of phenomena. This brings us back to Physics 101.

Light, obviously, is a physical phenomenon that empowers our ability to use our visual confirmation system, eg our eyes value something, in this case the stars. So when we look up at the sky, we can see light emanating from a star or bouncing off a planet or moon. In many cases, if we see distant stars, we actually see them hundreds or thousands of years ago because that is how long it takes light to cross the universe and be seen in our sky. That alone is a very good idea.

Now the light itself is a pretty strange substance. But for our astronomical scientists, light is just another energy in a certain frequency. Now, we tend to think of frequencies when we talk about sound waves. In scientific terms light, energy and sound are only a few forms of the same thing, the frequency of energy emulated from a source.

Now we come to why radio astronomy is very necessary. The frequency range inhabited by light in the large frequency spectrum is very small. In short, we can only "see" a small part of the universe that is actually there. Now when you look at the night sky and it's so amazing, when you see that we only see a little of what's really happening there, once again, our minds can become very overwhelmed.

Radio astronomy uses sophisticated sensor equipment to study ALL the frequencies of energy that come to us from the cosmos. In that way, these scientists can "see" everything that is happening out there and so get a precise picture of how stars look, behave now and will behave in the future.

For some of us who have heard of Radio Astronomy, we think in terms of "listening" to the signs of life in the universe. And yes, SETI, or "Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence" is part of radio astronomy, although a small portion. But far more important is how radio astronomy has empowered serious astronomers (ie those who are paid to do it) to study stars within a few light years, to study black holes that we can never see with our telescopes and to collect research and data about the entire universe which is otherwise impossible to know and understand.

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This is an important work that continues in the world of astronomy. It is worth to follow and learn more because we have just scratched the surface in our brief discussion today. But understanding the importance of radio astronomy will only deepen and make your love and understanding more meaningful to this vast field of knowledge known as astronomy.