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Chapter 6: Problem 26

Why is it necessary to keep an infrared telescope at a very low temperature?

Short Answer

Expert verified
It is necessary to keep an infrared telescope at a very low temperature to reduce the amount of infrared radiation it emits. This minimizes background 'noise' and interference, thereby enhancing the telescope's ability to detect the infrared radiation from celestial bodies.

Step by step solution

01

Understanding Infrared Radiation

Infrared radiation is essentially heat radiation. Every object emits a certain amount of this radiation, more so if it's warm. Thus, the primary job of an infrared telescope is to collect the infrared radiation (or heat) from celestial bodies.
02

Interference due to Heat

If the telescope itself is warm, it will emit significant infrared radiation. This would create a lot of background noise, and it would interfere with the signals being received from the celestial bodies. This makes it harder for the telescope to pick out the infrared signals it needs to detect.
03

Keeping the Telescope Cool

In order to reduce this background noise, the telescope needs to be kept at a very low temperature. This is because when you cool an object down, it emits less infrared radiation. Thus, by keeping the telescope cool, we reduce the amount of infrared radiation it emits, thereby minimizing interference and enhancing its ability to detect the infrared radiation from celestial bodies properly.
04

Use of Liquid Helium

Therefore, infrared telescopes are often cooled to very low temperatures using liquid helium. This helps in significantly reducing their own heat radiation and increases their sensitivity to distant, faint heat signals from far-off celestial bodies

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Most popular questions from this chapter

What is the purpose of a telescope eyepiece? What aspect of the eyepiece determines the magnification of the image? In what circumstances would the eyepiece not be used?

If you were in charge of selecting a site for a new observatory, what factors would you consider important?

Quite often advertisements appear for telescopes that extol their magnifying power. Is this a good criterion for evaluating telescopes? Explain your answer.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using a small telescope in Earth's orbit versus a large telescope on a mountaintop.

What is light pollution? What effects does it have on the operation of telescopes? What can be done to minimize these effects?
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