New Adventures in Infrared Astronomy

A lecture by Martin Harwit, Professor of Emeritus of Astronomy, Cornell University
5th May 1999

Infrared astronomy has revolutionised and transformed the way we view the makings of the Universe and our place in it. The advantage of infrared radiation is that it can be detected from deep within distant, dust-shrouded regions that are impenetrable to visible light. These new infrared observations now reveal the physical processes which took place in the formation of galaxies and stars billions of years ago.

These sightings are enabling astronomers to reconstruct the early history of the Cosmos, as it cooled to transform itself from a hot, blandly uniform fluid into the mass of colliding galaxies, exploding stars and newly born planets we see swirling all around us.

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Introduction
Tanya Hill, Astronomer, Melbourne Planetarium  (1.25mins)

Keynote speaker
Prof. Martin Harwit talks about:

• Infrared astronomy has made great advances in the last few years. (3.25mins)
• Infrared astronomers use heat sensors to observe the Universe. (.58secs)
• Atmospheric obscurations means infrared telescopes must be sent into space. (2.05mins)
• Different types of light: far-infrared, near-infrared, visible and ultraviolet. (2.05mins)
• The lastest infrared telescope in space - the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO). (6.06mins)
• The first infrared telescope in space - IRAS (Infrared Astronomical Satellite): captured crude images of the the Milky Way. (3.27mins)
• A storm forming dark cloud: Rho Ophiuchus. (1.06mins)
• Chameleon clouds and brown dwarfs. (1.58mins)
• What keeps the earth from collapsing under its own gravity? (3.13mins)
• Spectrometers divide light into different colours and wavelengths. (4.09mins)
• Recent addition to the Hubble Space Telescope - near-infrared camera.  (5.49mins)
• Herbig-Haro objects: Jets from a star being born.  (3.04mins)
• A complex spectrum and the Cosmic Background Explorer. (4.39mins)
• Where does infrared radiation come from? (4.19mins)
• Follow the evolution of stars and galaxies. (1.40mins)

Questions asked

• What is the interstellar gas density and how much does it vary from one galaxy to another?
• Whether infrared detectors could be developed to see the heat from the planets that are formed in a protoplanetary disk?
• What kind of roles would infrared observations play in the detection of black holes?
• Whether the infrared emission from the parent star far out shines the radiation from a planet?
• How far can the infrared telescope see?
• Whether the theorists will be able to calculate back to what the universe was like before the Planck time?
• How efficient is the infrared devices?

 

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