Dr.

Partha Ghosh Department of Physics, Bangabasi College Kolkata

Syllabus: Unit-1: Tools of Astronomy (15 Lectures)

(A) Contents of our Universe: basic introduction of stars, galaxies, clusters, interstellar medium, black holes,
our own galaxy Milky Way. ♫♫
(B) Mass, length, time and magnitude scales in astronomy. ♫♫
(C) Interaction of light and matter: Fundamentals of Radiative transfer (emission, absorption, radiative
transfer equation, mean free path, optical depth), thermal radiation and thermodynamic equilibrium
(Kirchhoff’s law of thermal emission, Boltzmann and Saha equation, thermodynamics of black body radiation,
concept of local thermodynamic equilibrium). ♫♫
(D) Observational tools for multi-wavelength astronomy: telescope as a camera, optical telescopes (reflecting
and refracting telescopes), radio telescopes, astronomical instruments and detectors, observations at other
wavelengths (infrared, ultraviolet, X-ray and Gamma ray astronomy), all-sky surveys. ♫♫

(A) BASIC INTRODUCTION OF CONTENTS OF OUR UNIVERSE:

An expanding universe, at the earliest times, was denser & hotter in which matter would have existed as a
primordial soup of elementary particles. It is commonly believed now that just after one minute of creation,
temperature of the universe was moderately cooler so that protons and neutrons combined to form some
amounts of deuterium, which in turn combined to form helium nuclei. The abundance of this baryonic matter
makes up only about 5% of the observed matter density ρ C of the universe. Amongst the rest is 30% weakly
interacting massive particles (WIMPs) known as dark matter and rest 65% is in more exotic form of a fluid
exerting negative pressure, known as dark energy.
When the universe was about a thousand times smaller, electrons combined with protons & helium nuclei to
give H & He gas. At this stage, radiation decomposed from matter without significant scattering and absorption
and formed the CMBR (Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation), the fossilized records of history, having
average temperature of about 2.73K. Matter, henceforth was distributed evenly & smoothly throughout the
universe, with tiny fluctuations in energy density. With further evolution, these fluctuations in density grew by
gravitational instability and formed the large scale structures of the universe.
The dark matter particles cluster gravitationally to form large, virialized, self gravitating lumps in which
baryonic matter gets embedded to form galaxies. These large dark matter halos have about ten times more mass
than the visible matter they contain. These visible matter radiate energy, cool down and shrink to central regions
to form galaxies, consisting of stars and interstellar medium. The interstellar medium is made up of gas, dust,
cosmic ray particles & magnetic fields, sometimes called nebulae. The sizes of galaxies are about 15 Kilo
parsecs (Kpc) and masses are of the order of 3×1041Kg. Small Local Groups of sizes about few hundred Kpc to
a few Mpc are made up of about 5-100 galaxies. On the other hand, larger Galactic Clusters contains more than
100 galaxies. They are either roundish elliptical or spiral in shape, and constitute the expanding visible universe.
The hot interstellar / intergalactic / intracluster gas of temperature about 107-108 K on further gravitational
contraction, have further rise in temperature and at a certain stage, nuclear reactions are ignited. This initiates
formation of stable configuration of stars. Each galaxy contains about 1011-1012 stars, with average distance
between them to be 1 parsec. The mean distance between galaxies is about 1 Mpc.

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Dr. Partha Ghosh Department of Physics, Bangabasi College Kolkata

The first generation or Population-II stars (also known as Main Sequence stars) are made up of burning H &
He; the nucleosynthesis inside leads to formation of heavier elements deep inside them. When the nuclear fuel
is exhausted, death of the star occurs and we have stellar remnants.
Less massive stars lead to White Dwarf stage.
Moderately massive stars, through supernovae explosion, spew out heavier elements into the interstellar
medium, from which Population-I stars initiate formation. The remnant is a rotating Neutron Star or Pulsar.
Both white dwarfs & neutron stars are quantum mechanical objects in which gravitational attraction is balanced
by electron degeneracy pressure.
Highly massive stars, under certain conditions, result in general relativistic Black Hole structures.
Formation of stars from collapsing gas clouds sometimes lead to conglomerations of stars. They may be either
Binary Pairs or Globular Clusters (contain about 106 stars). Our Milky Way galaxy consists of several such
clusters distributed in a roughly spherical manner. One star in the binary pair evolves faster and leaves behind a
remnant, which accrete matter from the other star leading to highly energetic radiation.
Accretion of matter, i.e, conversion of gravitational potential energy into radiation is also present in Active
Galactic Nuclei (AGN), which harbor super-massive black holes at the core. Though with sizes even less than
the solar system, the luminosities of AGN sometimes surpass that of the entire galaxy and can be seen from
large distances. Intergalactic medium consists of highly ionized gas, resulting from radiation of the first
structures of the universe when it was smaller in size.

(B) MASS, LENGTH, TIME & MAGNITUDE SCALES IN ASTROPHYSICS:

From the basic introduction above, it is clear that we have diverse magnitudes to encounter in astrophysics. The
density varies from 10 -25 kg/m3 in intergalactic medium to 1017 Kg/m3 in neutron stars; size varies from 105m
for planet radius to 1022m for a galaxy cluster; distance scales range from few parsecs in interstellar medium to
thousands of Mpc of Universe size; masses range from 1030 Kg for a typical star to 1044Kg for galactic clusters.
This is a outcome of the fact that astrophysical systems exists in widely different forms, ionized plasma, neutral
gas, solids of moderate to nuclear densities. A wide variety of physics as well as measurement scales is thus
required.
1. Length Scales: The rate of expansion of the universe at different distances from a particular point in space is
measured by Hubble’s constant H0=0.3×h×10-17/s, with the Hubble parameter h=0.72. The inverse of this is
often called Hubble Time and is identified with the age of the universe, t univ ~ H0-1 = 3.33×1017 h-1s. The
estimated size of the universe is thus ct univ~1026 h-1 m ~ 3000h-1 Mpc. Thus, the typical astronomical length
scales are: 1Mpc ~ 3×1022 m, 1Kpc ~3×1019 m, 1 parsec ~3×1016 m.
The other length scales used are AU (Astronomical Unit: The sun-earth distance = 1.5×1011 m) and Light Year
(ly = 9.5×1015 m). Distances are extremely necessary for estimating luminosity, mass, physical size & true
nature of motion of celestial objects. Let us understand the proper definition of the most common unit, Parsec.

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Dr. Partha Ghosh Department of Physics, Bangabasi College Kolkata

If a star has a parallax of one arc second such that it

shifts back and forth in the sky by exactly one arc
second of a degree (1/3600) relative to the background
stars, twice a year, then the distance of the star is 1
parsec. From trigonometry, we can find that
tan p  1AU 1 pc  1 pc  1AU tan 1/ 3600  3  1016 m.
As distance to a star increases, the parallax angle
decreases. The nearest star α-Centauri has parallax of
0.742 arc seconds and hence its distance is 1.348 pc.
As for a thumb rule, pc is the order of interstellar distances; Kpc is for galactic sizes, Mpc for intergalactic
distances and Gpc for measure of extension of the visible universe. The Cosmic Distance Ladder typically
provides a chart for the techniques to measure distances, as detailed below.
Solar System Nearby Stars Milky Way Nearby Galaxies Galactic Clusters Beyond
Radar ranging Parallax Main sequence Classical Tully Fisher Hubble’s law
fitting in HR Cepheids relation, Redshifts
diagram.
As the Hubble’s constant H0 has the dimension of frequency, so also the quantity √ (Gρ). It is thus customary
to construct a characteristic density ρC = 3H02/8πG ~ 1.88×10-26 h2 Kg/m3, very close to the presently observed
matter density of the Universe.
2. Mass Scales: The standard astronomical unit for mass is the solar mass Mʘ ~ 2×1030 Kg. Sometimes, mass
of earth is used as a standard for rocky, terrestrial planets and mass of Jupiter are also used gas giants &
exoplanets. Although the intrinsic brightness & size of stars vary a lot, yet, most of the stars have masses in the
range of 0.1 – 20 Mʘ. The mass of a typical galaxy is about 1011 Mʘ. Dense globular clusters having nearly
spherical stars have typical mass ~ 105 Mʘ.
3. Time Scales: Astrophysicists have to deal with very different time scales; the age of the Universe being some
few billion years and pulsars emitting in fractions of seconds. There being no such special units, the second is
used for smaller durations and years for larger durations. Giga-year (109 years) is a typical unit.
4. Magnitude Scale: Stars may appear brighter or fainter depending upon their distances. The apparent
brightness of a star was defined in terms of the apparent magnitude scale of 6, where the first magnitude m = 1
is for the brightest stars and the sixth magnitude m = 6 is for the faintest star. So, the apparent magnitude scale
is a non-linear logarithmic one in which a difference of 5 magnitudes is equal to a factor of 100 in brightness,
i.e, brightness ratio corresponding to 1 magnitude difference is 100 1/5 or 2.512. Thus, a star of m=1 is 2.512
times brighter than another with m = 2, and (2.512)2 = 6.3 times brighter than another with m = 3.
Mathematically, the relationship between brightness and apparent magnitude is given as
m1  m2  2.5 log 10 b2 b1  Modern astronomers have extended the scale to negative numbers beyond zero to
include even brighter stars than first magnitude; and also beyond six on the positive side (the faintest object till
date has m = 30). Given the apparent magnitudes of sun and α-Centauri to be -26.81 and -0.10 respectively, we
can easily calculate to find that the sun is about 1011 times brighter than the later.
5. Luminosity Scale: The astronomical unit for luminosity is that of the sun, i.e, Lʘ ~ 3.82×1026 Watts.
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Dr. Partha Ghosh Department of Physics, Bangabasi College Kolkata

(C) INTERACTION OF RADIATION AND MATTER:

1. To an observational astrophysicist, radiation from a distant source is detected through four variables, namely;
Energy Flux, Direction, Frequency and Polarization.
Flux (F) is defined as incident energy per unit area per unit time, and units
J/m2/s. Direction can be incorporated from surface brightness S(Ω), i.e, flux in normal
an acceptance solid angle dΩ normal to dA, with units J/m2/s/steradian.
Frequency is included in the calculation if we include a filter which selects
dΩ
frequencies in a range ν to ν+dν, and we have specific intensity of radiation I ν
dν
with units J/m2/s/std/Hz. Clearly, we have S   I d . Polarization can be
incorporated by adding proper analyzers to detect linear/elliptical/circular
dA
natures.
2. Radiative transfer is the change of specific intensity I ν as the radiation propagates through space. Let us
consider isotropic radiation from a distant spherical star advancing without loss in energy. If we consider two
concentric spheres of radii r1 & r2 respectively, then F r1  4r1  F r2  4r2 or the flux F follows inverse
2 2

square law, F r2   F r1 r1 r2  const. r2 .

2 2 2

Now let us consider a radiation field with rays in all possible direction and that the area dA be with an arbitrary
orientation n̂. Amount of radiation flux through an arbitrary solid angle is reduced by a factor cosθ, where θ is
the angle between the area normal and the solid angle’s orientation. Thus dF  I cosd and the net flux in
the direction n̂ can be obtained by integrating over all values of θ. For isotropic radiation, this integration gives
total flux Fν to be zero, as incoming cancels outgoing.
Since photon momentum equals energy divided by velocity, so the momentum flux along a given direction is
expressed as dF c and the component of momentum flux normal to the area dA is I cos 2 d c. Thus the
net momentum at that given frequency is p   I cos 2 d c and total momentum, including all frequencies,
is  p d . Thereafter, the total flux is  F d and total intensity is  I d .
3. The equation of Radiative Transfer & its solution: When radiation passes through matter, energy is either
added or subtracted by emission or absorption and the specific intensity doesn’t remain constant. Also,
scattering of photons (into or out of the beam) may also affect the intensity. The change of I ν due to all these is
known as radiative transfer. The contexts that are related to it are as follows:
i.) Monochromatic spontaneous emission coefficient is the energy emitted per unit volume per unit time per unit
solid angle in a small frequency range around ν: j  dE dVdtdd . For isotropic radiation, if Pν is the power
radiated per unit volume per unit frequency, then jν = Pν/4π.
ii.) The spontaneous emission coefficient including all frequencies is j  dE dVdtd.
iii.) The emissivity at a particular frequency (isotropic case) is the energy emitted per unit mass per unit time in
a small frequency range, given as:   dE dVdtd d 4   j  4 .

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Dr. Partha Ghosh Department of Physics, Bangabasi College Kolkata

iv.) If a beam of cross section dA travels a length ds through an emitting medium, then it encounters a volume
dV = dAds of the medium and thus the amount of intensity added to the original specific intensity I ν is given as
dI  j ds.
v.) On the other hand, if the medium of travel is absorptive, then loss of intensity after travelling a distance ds is
given as dI   I ds, the quantity αν being the loss of intensity per unit specific intensity per unit length
travelled. Let us now consider the medium to be composed of randomly distributed particles of density n, each
presenting an effective absorption cross section σν. For a radiation beam of cross section dA travelling distance
ds, the number of absorptions is thus ndAds, total absorbing area is ndAdsσν. The energy loss that occurs around
a frequency ν in a solid angle dΩ is dE  dI dAdtdd  ( I ds)dAdtdd   I dsdAdtdd . From the
relation, it becomes clear that dI   I ds  n ds   K ds , where ρ is called mass absorption coefficient
and Kν is called the opacity coefficient.
The requirement for the above consideration is that, the absorption cross section dA
must be small in comparison to the inter-particle distance, or √σν << d ~ n1/3, the dS
absorbers being independent and randomly oriented. Inside the medium, the
σν
absorption can be positive or negative, depending on whether the absorption
dΩ
dominates or stimulated emission dominates.
dI
vi.) Finally, we have the Radiative Transfer Equation as    I  j ; the rate of change of specific
ds
intensity with distance travelled is a result of true absorption and stimulated emission simultaneously. The
convenient form of the transfer equation changes in presence of a scatterer, because emission into dΩ in that
case depends on Iν in other solid angles and the equation becomes integro-differential, which can be solved by
numerical techniques only.
There are two limiting cases to solve the transfer equation simply:
s
dI
Only emission, no absorption (αν = 0):   j ; solution being I s   I ( s0 )   j ( s)ds; or the increase in
ds s0

brightness is equal to emission coefficient jν integrated along the line of sight.

s
dI
Only absorption, no emission (jν = 0);   I ; solution being I s   I ( s0 ) exp(    ( s)ds); or the
ds s0

decrease in brightness in the region is exponential of the absorption coefficient integrated along the line of sight.
s
vii.) Optical depth τν is defined as d   ds or     ( s)ds measured along the path of the travelling ray.
s0

(Often, it is customary to calculate the optical depth backward along the ray and a negative sign appears. Again,
it is also a practice to measure it normal to the surface, replacing ds by dz.) A medium is said to be optically
thick or opaque if τν >1 and optically thin or transparent if τν < 1. In general, in a thin medium, a photon of
frequency ν can traverse without being absorbed whereas in a thick medium, it can’t.
dI
viii.) The radiative transfer equation can be recast in terms of the optical depth as    I  S ; with the
d 
source function defined as Sν = jν/αν, a simpler quantity than either the stimulated emission coefficient or the
absorption coefficient. If the specific intensity Iν is greater than the source function, its rate of change with

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Dr. Partha Ghosh Department of Physics, Bangabasi College Kolkata

optical depth is negative; and if it is smaller than the source function, the rate is positive. Using the integrating
factor exp(τν) to be multiplied to both sides of the modified transfer equation, we get
dI   
e   I e  S e 

d I e 
 S e
d d
Calling Iνexp(τν) = I and Sνexp(τν) = S, we have dI/dτν = S, the solution of which can be easily obtained. The
student is asked to verify that for a constant source function, I ν → Sν as τν → ∞.
ix.) Mean free path is the average distance a photon can travel through an absorbing material without being
absorbed. We know that the probability for a photon travelling at least an optical depth τ ν is exp (-τν). Thus

    e  d   l  1 or mean free path lν = 1/αν =1/nσν. Local mean free path in an inhomogeneous
0

material is the mean free path that would result if the photon travelled through a larger homogeneous region of
similar properties.

4. Thermal radiation and thermodynamic equilibrium: Let us consider the following aspects of radiation:
Iν Iν’
i.) Kirchhoff’s laws for thermal emission: Let us have blackbody radiation
in an enclosure at temperature T and initially don’t allow any outflow till
equilibrium is attained. Afterwards, we put a small hole and do
measurements in such a way that equilibrium is not disturbed. The Frequency Filter
massless photons are created/absorbed by the wall of
the container, there being negligible self interaction. The number of photons is not conserved but yet it will
adjust itself in equilibrium at temperature T. The specific intensity of radiation I ν is independent of the
properties of the enclosure and depends only upon the temperature.
If now we arbitrarily allow it to exchange radiation with another enclosure by placing a frequency filter, then if
Iν ≠ Iν’, energy will spontaneously flow at equal temperatures also, thus violating the second law of
thermodynamics. We thus conclude that the specific intensity of radiation must be a universal function of both
frequency and temperature, i.e, Iν = Bν (T), the Planck’s function.
Now, let us place an emitter Bν (T) near the opening of the enclosure which has source function Sν. Now if Sν >
Bν, then Iν > Bν and vice versa. But since the presence of a material emitter cannot alter the nature of radiation,
the new configuration also being a blackbody enclosure at temperature T, we require S ν = Bν(T) or jν = ανBν(T).
For the abovementioned reasons, the two forms of radiative transfer equation we have studied, becomes
  I  j   I   B (T ) and    I  S   I  B T 
dI dI
ds d
Since throughout the blackbody enclosure, Sν = Bν, we require Iν = Bν; indicating that thermal radiation can be
treated equivalently as blackbody radiation for optically thicker media.

ii.) Thermodynamics of Blackbody radiation: We are now set to establish some very well known results starting
4
B T d .
c 
from the first law itself. dQ = dU + pdV, dS = dQ/T, U = uV, p = u/3, with energy density u 

udV udV  Vdu  udV V du

 dS  d uV  
dQ dU pdV 1 4u
Now      dT  dV . Again since entropy
T T T T 3T T 3T T dT 3T

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Dr. Partha Ghosh Department of Physics, Bangabasi College Kolkata

 S   S 
S(T,V) is a perfect differential, we have comparing with dS    dT    dV , the following
 T V  V T
Vdu  S  4u  S 
expressions;   &   .
TdT  T V 3T  V T
2S 1 du  2 S  4u 4 U
Double differentiation implies  ,   . Since these expressions must be equal to
VT T dT TV 3T 2 3T T
each other, we are led to the fact that u(T) = aT4 = (4π/c)B(T), where a is a constant. Thus finally, we have
achieved B (T) = (ac/4π) T4.
The emergent flux is defined as F   F d    B d  B(T )  T 4 , the Stefan’s constant σ = ac/4. It can also
be verified easily that for blackbody radiation, S  4aT 3V 3, such that for isentropic processes, TV1/3 or pV4/3
are constants.

iii.) Local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE): It is a condition under which matter emits radiation based on its
intrinsic properties and temperature, uninfluenced by radiation of any magnitude. LTE occurs when radiant
energy absorbed by a molecule is distributed across other molecules by collision before it is reradiated by
emission. LTE is needed for Kirchhoff’s law and Planck’s law to apply, and is typically satisfied at atmospheric
pressures > 0.05 millibars.
For global thermodynamic equilibrium, there should not be any temperature gradient over time & space, that is,
T 
 T  0, whereas in local thermodynamic equilibrium, the temperature profile along a given direction
t

T r 
should not change with time,  0. There are three kinds of temperatures defined for LTE, namely:
t
Tkinetic or the kinetic temperature of the atoms/molecules by virtue of their Maxwell distributed motion;
Texcitation or the excitation temperature stored while particles absorb energy from outside to be Boltzmann
distributed amongst different levels and
Tradiation or the radiation temperature at which radiative balance (Sν = Bν = Iν) is observed.

iv.) The Saha Ionization Equation: To study this famous equation, a bit knowhow of statistical mechanics and
distributions is necessary. Here we go as per the following considerations.
We always perform statistical mechanical calculations in phase space, a hypothetical space comprising of co-
ordinate and momentum components. In 3D, we have (x, y, z, p x, py, pz) and this 6-D space for a single
molecule is called μ-space. However, we would be interested for an entire system of N particles, and thus the
6N-dimensional Γ-space is more relevant. The smallest volume dxdpx in 1-D is called h, and so, the smallest
volumes in μ and Γ-spaces are h3 and h3N respectively.
We are generally interested to study the classical statistical distribution; that is, how particles are arranged in
different energy levels at an equilibrium temperature. The Boltzmann distribution is given as
N  g
 exp(   k BT ) , where N is the particle number, g is the density of states (or degeneracy) and T is the
N 0 g0
absolute temperature. We are interested to compare two levels, one at the ground state of zero energy and other
at energy= ε. To have an idea of the density of states in phase space, we first recall that it has to be calculated by

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Dr. Partha Ghosh Department of Physics, Bangabasi College Kolkata

dividing the volume accessible to the given particle(s), as per the demand of the physical situation, by the
quantity h3 (or h3N). Mathematically speaking,
g   dxdydzdpx dp y dpz h3  V   4p 2 dp h3 ; where V is the net spatial volume accessible and energy ε =
p2/2m. The volume in momentum space is calculated from within the permissible limits of energy. If the
particle has spin degeneracy g s along-with, then it has also to be incorporated in the calculation.
NA gA   E  EB  
In LTE, two energy states are populated as  exp   A  , where the statistical weight or
NB gB  k BT 
degeneracy of the levels EA & EB are gA & gB respectively. Now if we consider two ions ‘i’ and ‘i+1’ of the
same element, of lower and higher ionization states with degeneracy gi and gi+1, we have the distribution
  p2  
     
  2m  

ni 1 gi 1 2Ve
3 
 exp   4p 2 dp . Here, n’s are the number densities, ne = 1/Ve is the number density
ni gi h 0 k BT
 
 
 
of free electrons (of mass m) which can be put in many possible states in the phase space with two different spin
orientations, χ is the ionization potential or the energy required to ionize ‘i’ from the ground state, (χ + p2/2m) is
the energy of the free electron with respect to the ground state. Since the I.P is constant, it can be taken out of
  
  p2 
e 2mkBT  . We thus arrive at the
ni 1 gi 1 2 k BT g 2 k BT
   4p 2 dp  i 1 3/ 2
the integral and 3
e exp 3
ni gi ne h 0  2mkBT  gi ne h

Saha Ionization equation

ni 1 ne  2mkBT 3 / 2 2 gi 1 e k T .
B

ni h3 gi
To have an essence of the equation, we consider pure, partly ionized hydrogen, with total number density equal
to the sum of number densities of neutral atoms as well as ions, nH = nHI + nHII . Also, the number density of
electrons ne = nHII and degree of ionization is x = nHII /nH. The density of the gas is ρ = mHnH. Saha equation in

this case becomes:

nH II  ne

nH II
2
n
2
 H  nH
x2

 x2

2mkBT  3/ 2 
2 g i 1 k BT
e . The degree of
nH I nH
2
nH I 1  x mH 1  x h3 gi
ionization is a very important quantity for astrophysical measurements as it helps us to understand the interior
of stars through their spectral classification.
For a stellar atmospheric gas at a high enough temperature and/or density, the thermal collisions of the atoms
will ionize some of the atoms, making an ionized gas. When several or more of the electrons that are normally
bound to the atom in orbits around the atomic nucleus are freed, they form an independent electron gas cloud
co-existing with the surrounding gas of atomic ions and neutral atoms. In turn, this generates an electric field,
where the motion of charges generates currents, making a localized magnetic field, and creates the state of
matter called plasma. The Saha equation describes the degree of ionization for any gas in thermal equilibrium as
a function of the temperature, density, and ionization energies of the atoms. It only holds for weakly ionized
plasmas for which the screening of the Coulomb interaction of ions and electrons by other ions and electrons is
negligible. The Saha equation also explains evolution in the early universe. After the Big Bang, all atoms were
ionized, leaving mostly protons and electrons. According to Saha's approach, when the universe had expanded
and cooled such that the temperature reached about 3,000 K, electrons recombined with protons
forming hydrogen atoms. At this point, the universe became transparent to most of the electromagnetic
radiation, which formed the CMBR as we find today.

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Dr. Partha Ghosh Department of Physics, Bangabasi College Kolkata

(D) MULTI-WAVELENGTH ASTRONOMY: THE OBSERVATIONAL TOOLS

Let us take a look into the physical aspects of observational astronomy. Apart from detection of the
electromagnetic radiation from cosmic sources, which we will discuss here, cosmic rays, neutrinos &
gravitational waves are also studied. We would be formally looking into optical and radio telescopes, detectors
for the entire spectrum of E.M waves and all sky surveys. But first of all, it is important to understand the
physics behind such observation.
1. Physics: We generally use telescopes as a camera to focus the approximately plane EM radiation arriving
from a distant source at the detector placed in its focal plane, which will record the signal. The most basic
telescope-detector system is the human eye, with its lens-retina combination. However, the aperture (light
gathering area) and the angular resolution of the eye pose limitations to observe distant objects. More the light
gathering area, more is the number of photons that can be detected per unit time, and hence fainter sources can
be detected. The angular resolution is the smallest angle on the sky between two sources which can be resolved
separately. From the Rayleigh’s criterion of physical optics, we have the limit of resolution to be   1.22 D ,
where λ is the wavelength of light reaching through a circular aperture of diameter D. Here it is considered that
light within a very narrow range of frequencies (by using proper filters) can actually reach the telescope without
being blurred by the earth’s atmosphere or any other sources. Then we have the Airy’s diffraction pattern as
concentric circles for the objects, with the central spot having angular radius θ. Two adjacent objects with
angular separation less than θ would thus be indistinguishable from each other.
Angular resolution is important not only for observing fine details of an astronomical object but also detecting
faint unresolved sources against the statistical fluctuations of the sky background. Night sky shines up due
scattered light from moon, stars, and artificial light sources on ground as well as fluorescence of
atoms/molecules in the atmosphere.
The limitation of integration time of human eye (1/30 s) is resolved by arbitrarily long exposures of the
telescope detector system to detect faint signals, even from non-optical ranges of the EM spectrum. The
objective record of the observation is currently kept in digital format so as to allow computational examination,
analysis and dissemination at suitable period of time. In optical, near UV & X-ray astronomy, a CCD camera is
used. It has a slab of silicon divided into numerous pixels by a combination of insulating buffers etched into it,
and selected voltage differences are applied across their area. Photons reaching the CCD emit photoelectrons,
which gets accumulated in the pixels during the period of exposure. Then after read out and amplification, the
resulting current is proportional to the no. of photons that have reached the pixel and allows to form a digital
image of the observed sky region.
The imaging procedure provides much more information about the parameters of the electric field of the E.M

 

wave, given as E  eˆE t cos 2t  k .r   . The direction of propagation and polarization of the wave, its
frequency and phase shift can be obtained by various means. The photon flux can be related to the intensity of
the wave, given as E 2 t  . Time resolved photometry is employed for this aspect. Frequency can be determined
either by filters or by Spectroscopy, using dispersive elements. The phase can be determined by techniques of
Interferometry, by combination of waves obtained at different telescopes spread over either a region or across
the globe. The baseline distances between the telescopes serve as apertures, giving higher angular resolution.
Also, techniques of Polarimetry help to determine the nature of polarization of the wave and the underlying
physics.
2. The Atmospheric Windows: Some of the effects of the Earth’s atmosphere on electromagnetic radiation are:
Absorption, scintillation, scattering and turbulence. Atmospheric molecules such as carbon dioxide and water
vapour give rise to absorption. Thus, only certain bands of frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum pass

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Dr. Partha Ghosh Department of Physics, Bangabasi College Kolkata

through the atmosphere. These regions of the electromagnetic spectrum are called atmospheric windows. In the
adjoining diagram, the absorption properties of the earth’s atmosphere are shown. Along the x-axis is the
wavelength in logarithmic scale and on the y-axis is the fraction of the intensity of the radiation that is blocked
after entering the atmosphere.
The atmosphere allows only visible radiation and radio
waves to come through to the surface of the Earth. For
observations at other wavelengths we have to fly
detecting instruments to altitudes at which these
wavelengths are not completely absorbed. Before the
advent of artificial satellites, the instruments were flown
in balloons and rockets. Now-a-days observations are
carried at various wavelengths by instruments on board
the space satellites.

3. Some basic concepts of telescopy:

i) Angular magnification (A.M) of a telescope is given as the ratio
of the angle subtended by the virtual image at the eye and that
subtended by a distant object at the objective of the telescope. It is
clear from the figure that the A.M is the ratio of the focal lengths
of the objective and the eye-piece lens. Further, the A,M is also
equal to the ratio of the entrance pupil (objective lens diameter) to
the human eye’s pupil diameter.

The highest possible magnification of a telescope is limited by its optics which includes the quality of lenses
and mirrors and the thermal insulation of the telescope tube so that the exchange of heat does not disturb the air
inside the tube. The magnification is also limited by the disturbance of light rays suffered in the Earth’s
atmosphere. Also, the higher the magnification, the smaller is the field of view, i.e., the area of the sky which
can be observed by the telescope becomes smaller.
ii) The light gathering power of a telescope refers to its ability to collect light from an object. Most interesting
celestial objects are faint sources of light and in order to get an image we need to capture as much light as
possible from them. Light gathering power of a telescope is proportional to the area (i.e., diameter squared) of
the telescope objective. The area of a circular lens or mirror of diameter D is π (D/2) 2. Even a small increase in
telescopes diameter produces a large increase in its light gathering power and allows astronomers to study much
fainter objects.
iii) Resolving Power: The ability of a telescope to reveal fine detail of an object is determined by its resolving
power. A telescope’s resolving power has naturally the quality of lenses as a major factor. But even with perfect
optics, it is limited by that of the Airy’s discs formed diffraction. The diffraction limit of resolution (R) of a
telescope is defined as R (in radians) = (1.22 λ /D). Based on size alone, the largest telescopes should have large
resolving powers. But the resolution of large telescopes is limited by the passage of light through the Earth’s
atmosphere. When we look through a telescope, we are looking through several kilometers of turbulent air,
which blurs the image. The Earth’s atmosphere does not allow ground-based telescopes to resolve better than 1-
2 arc-seconds in the sky (for even the best astronomical sites).
3. Difficulties with refracting telescopes: The refracting telescopes since Galileo were difficult to work with and
soon became outdated because of the following reasons:

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i) It was difficult to make good large lenses required for large gathering area. The entire volume of the lens
needs to be optically perfect and free from defects. Furthermore, both surfaces of the lens must be ground with
great precision, deviations being allowed typically in the range λ/20.
ii) Large lenses were very heavy and balancing the telescope with support also became difficult as size and
weight of the lenses increased. Deformation in shape occurred due to gravity when it was required to change the
orientation of the telescope. Mechanical problem also arose with long focal length refractors. Due to long lever
arm involved, placing a massive detector at the end of the telescope requires a large amount of torque to be
compensated.
iii) Lenses suffered from optical aberrations to a large extent. Those include spherical and chromatic
aberrations, astigmatism, coma and distortion.
iv) Another significant difficulty with large objective lenses was their slow thermal response. When the dome is
opened, the temperature of the telescope must adjust to new surroundings. This produces thermally driven air
currents around it, significantly affecting the observation. The shape of the telescope may also change as a
consequence of thermal expansion.
4. Reflecting Telescopes: These kinds of telescopes with mirrors (parabolic or hyperbolic) have been around for
more than a century. In the last few decades, advanced technologies have been developed which allow the
observer to effectively control the optical system so that it can be adapted to the needs of the observations. Such
active and adaptive optics have completely changed this basic tool of observational astronomy. We now
describe various types of reflecting telescopes as shown in the figure below.
(i) Gregorian Prime Focus Telescope: In this
type of telescope, light from a distant object
hits the primary mirror and is reflected to a
secondary mirror which reflects it down to the
telescope tube again to a secondary focus. The
light emerges from the telescope through a
small central hole in the primary mirror and is
observed with an eyepiece or a detector. But a
substantial amount of light energy is lost in
this process.
(ii) Newtonian Telescope: The disadvantages

of prime focus telescope were overcome by Issac Newton in his telescope which used a parabolic primary also
but a flat mirror as a secondary, which is set at 45° to the axis of the tube. The light is brought to a focus at the
side of the telescope where the eyepiece is placed. This system is widely used even now.
(iii) Cassegrain Telescope: Now-a-days the most commonly used telescope is the Cassegrain type with a central
hole in the primary mirror which allows the light to come out for placing an eyepiece or any other general
detector or instruments. This design also allows the folding of the focused beam and thus provides a very
compact telescope. It also permits to host heavy instrument packages near the center of mass of the telescope
and permits an observer to stay near the bottom of the telescope rather than at the top. In this design, the
secondary mirror is usually convex, increasing the effective focal length of the system.
(iv) Coudѐ Telescope: If the telescopic system is too massive, it is required and effective to bring the light
directly to a special laboratory where the detector is located. The coudѐ telescope uses a series of mirrors to
reflect the light down through the mount to a coudѐs room located below it. Because of the extended optical
path, it is possible to create a very long focal length with this kind of telescope. Often this is useful in high
resolution work and high dispersion spectral line studies.

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The active and adaptive telescopes are the latest instruments in use today. In the active telescopes, the shape of
the primary mirror can be changed (although it retains its parabolic form) according to the observer’s need. This
is done with the help of small piezo-electrically driven pistons placed at the back of the mirror support. This is
now routinely done for large mirror based telescopes. In the adaptive telescope the changes in the shape of the
primary mirror are done in a controlled manner depending upon the changes in the Earth’s atmosphere during
night. In some sense, the adaptive telescopes can beat the effect of the atmosphere and render images as good as
the space telescopes for some duration in the night.
5. Telescopic Mounts: All telescopes need to be pointed at the desired part of the sky, and then they have to
follow or track the objects in the sky as their direction changes due to Earth’s rotation. So, we need a mounting
for the telescope so that it can be turned in the desired direction. We will now briefly discuss two types of
telescope mountings, namely equatorial & altitude-azimuth type.
i.) In an equatorial mounting, the pier or the base on which the
telescope is mounted is set so that its axis points to the North Pole.
This is done by raising the axis by an angle equal to the latitude of the
place. This axis is called the polar axis. A rotation about the polar axis
is used for adjustment in right ascension. The telescope is also
provided with motion about an axis perpendicular to the polar axis,
called the declination axis, for adjustment in declination. Thus, a
combination of these two motions allows the telescope to point to any
object whose equatorial coordinates are known. Since the telescope is
fixed on the Earth, it moves along with it. In order that the object
remains in the field of the telescope, the mounting is made to rotate in
the direction opposite to that of the Earth with the same speed. Due to
heaviness, equatorial mounting is not used with very big telescopes.
ii.) All modern telescopes (larger than 2m diameter) use Altitude-
Azimuth type mounting. It permits motion both parallel and
perpendicular to the horizon. The altitudes and azimuths of celestial
objects can be obtained from its right ascension and declination,
combined with the changing latitude location of the observer and with
local sidereal time for the same observer. Further, the effect of
continuous rotation of image fields can create complications when
guiding the telescope during an extended exposure or during creation
of a spectrum by passage through a narrow slit. This was a major
limitation of this type of mounting in earlier times but with advances
in the technology using computers in the past few decades, it is no
more an issue.
6. Astronomical Detectors: Detectors are used for measuring the light output from a telescope and play a major
role in obtaining information about the stars, galaxies, etc. They are used with telescopes in the following two
modes of operation:
• Photometry: This involves measuring total brightness, spectrum etc. of single objects. Compared to imaging
mode, poorer images are acceptable in this case but the stellar image has still to be small enough to enter an
aperture or slit of a spectrograph. Detectors used for photometry of single objects are 1-D type, since they
receive photons from one object only. The photometer is a 1D detector.
• Imaging: This involves taking direct pictures of star fields and extended objects like gas clouds or galaxies.
Since sharp images are required over a wide field which may extend up to several square degrees, careful
optical design is a natural requirement. Detectors used in the imaging mode are mainly 2-D type since we are
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trying to form images of objects in a given area. Examples of such detectors are the photographic emulsion,
human eye and the most modern detector, the charge-coupled device (CCD).
• We now briefly describe various types of detectors.
i.) Photometer: Before the advent of CCDs, the measurements of light intensity and colour were made using a
photometer, a highly sensitive light meter attached to a telescope. A photometer is still used in the photometry
of single variable stars, whose light output varies with time. The most important component of a photometer is a
photomultiplier tube that is based on the photoelectric effect. A photon when incident on a photocathode emits
an electron. The electric current thus generated is amplified further and can be measured directly. The
calibration of intensity or colour is done by observing a comparison star.
ii.) A charge-coupled device (CCD) is a special semiconductor chip of the size of a postage stamp containing a
large number (~ millions) of microscopic light detectors arranged in an array. A CCD can be used like a small
photographic plate, though it is much more sensitive. They can detect both bright and faint objects in a single
exposure. The image from a CCD is stored in a digitized form in a computer. Therefore, brightness and colour
can be measured to high precision. Moreover, it is easy to manipulate the image to bring out details. At present,
the only major drawback of CCD is that its maximum size is limited (about 70 mm square) as compared to the
most basic 2D detector, i.e., photographic plates which can be as large as 300 mm square. This disadvantage of
CCD is also being overcome by combining a large number of CCDs.
• Efficiency of a Detector: A basic parameter which defines the
efficiency of any detector is its Quantum Efficiency (Q.E.). It is
the ratio of number of photons actually detected (or recorded) by it
to the number of photons recorded by an ideal and perfect detector.
We note that the human eye and photographic emulsion are
detectors with the lowest sensitivity and photomultiplier tubes are
only marginally better. The CCD works over a large wavelength
region in the visible band with a Q.E. of the order of 60-80%. The
vertical axis is shown in logarithmic scale.
6. Radio Telescopes: Radio astronomy nowadays plays a very important role in our investigation of
mechanisms related to a wide variety of electromagnetic processes that reach us through the wide atmospheric
window. Since radio waves interact with matter in a different way, the detectors used are of different types than
optical ones. The parabolic dish of a typical radio telescope reflects the radio energy of the source to an antenna.
The signal is then amplified and processed to produce a radio map of the sky at a particular wavelength.
The amount of energy detected per second is P    S   f ddA , where S(ν) is the spectral flux density
A
(amount of energy incident per second per unit frequency incident per unit area of the telescope) and fν is the
efficiency of the detector at the given frequency. If the detector is 100% efficient, then fν=1 and if S(ν) is
constant over the interval, then P=SAΔν, where A is the effective area of the aperture. Rayleigh’s criterion is
also valid in this case and so large apertures of the antenna are necessary.
Radio Interferometry has enabled astronomers to resolve images
better than 0.001”. As shown in figure, two antennas situated at
baseline distance‘d’ from each other will have constructive
interference of signals if the path difference L of the wavefronts
is an integral multiple of wavelength λ. The pointing angle θ =
sin-1(L/d), and increasing baseline distance helps to improve
resolution. Very long baseline Interferometry (VLBI) is
possible over an entire continent or even between continents.

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Although a single antenna has greatest level of sensitivity in the direction it is pointing, it is also sensitive to
radio sources at angles far from the desired direction. In the adjoining polar plot of typical antenna pattern,
relative sensitivity is plotted against direction. Longer the lobe, larger is the sensitivity. The main lobe bounded
by the angular width at half its length, referred to as half power beam width (HPBW) needs to be decreased so
that accidental detection of unwanted indistinguishable objects do not hamper the actual. This can be achieved
by using array of telescopes to produce sharp diffraction pattern (analogous to increasing rulings in a grating.)
Large number of such telescope arrays is working at various places on the earth at this moment and are also
under construction.
7. IR, UV, X-Ray & Gamma-Ray Astronomy: From our knowledge of the atmospheric window, we know that
IR radiation is absorbed mostly by water vapour present in the atmosphere. Terrestrial observations are thus
done in regions of high altitude and lower humidity. Balloon and aircraft observations are also made, but
problems also arise due to heating of the telescope-detector system itself or atmospheric emissions. So, IR
detection is currently done by space telescopes put into orbiting satellites. This technique was also employed in
the COBE (Cosmic Background Explorer) which made a detailed map of the 2.7 K CMBR at microwave
regimes, believed to be the remnant fireball of the Big Bang.
The main problems to observe radiation at UV regime was the high precision requirement of the reflecting
surface at such small wavelengths. Also, glass is opaque to UV radiation and thus lenses have to be made of
crystals. The data in UV regime provide vast information about astrophysical processes, like mass loss of hot
stars, cataclysmic variable stars and compact objects like white dwarfs and neutron stars.
At even shorter wavelengths, X-ray and gamma ray astronomy yields information about energetic phenomena
such as nuclear reaction processes and environment around black holes. Due to high energy involved and high
penetrating power of photons, traditional glass mirrors are useless and techniques such as Bragg scattering from
crystal lattices is used to obtain diffraction spectra. Sometimes, grazing incidence mirrors are used for high
resolution.
8. All Sky Surveys & Virtual observatories: Observation of heavenly bodies at wavelengths spanning the entire
electromagnetic spectrum has provided us a lot of information which was not possible with ground based
optical telescopes alone. There are also devices for specialized studies like solar observations, accurate
positioning of celestial bodies etc. Large scale automated surveys are being done for observing every nook and
corner of the visible universe and producing petabytes of data.
Given the enormous volume of pre-existing data along-with those coming or would be coming in near future
from terrestrial and space-based astronomical observatories, great attention is being given to develop web-based
virtual observatories. The goal of these projects is to give an astronomer access to already existing database for
all observations that have been made in any specific region of the sky at any wavelength regime. In order that
such data can be downloaded in any desktop or mainframe computer for further studying, common data
formats, analysis and visualization tools are being developed with the help of information technology.

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