Questions about cosmology and looking deep into space

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What kind of telescopes are used to look farthest into space? Is it radio telescopes?

Radio waves are electromagnetic radiation, according to Wikipedia. Does that mean that radio waves fall under the domain of quantum physics?

That's what I wish to know for now.
Thanks.

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@Cyracuz,

Should be.
Visually receptive radiation,like other electromagnetic spectra,
is neasurable. Gaussian and the Rayleigh distributions come to mind.
Try wikipedia-ing those concepts.

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@Cyracuz,

But, of course, no matter how far our scan into the macrocosmos and our penetration into the subatomic microcosmos, there'll always be an "infinite" way to go. While I find that research interesting, I, nevertheless, satisfy myself with the metaphors from Hinduism and Buddhism. They "stand for" what I cannot know but love because it is ultimately what we are.
This is of course just a side note; I don't mean to change the subject.

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@Cyracuz,

Cyracuz wrote:

What kind of telescopes are used to look farthest into space? Is it radio telescopes?

Radio waves are electromagnetic radiation, according to Wikipedia. Does that mean that radio waves fall under the domain of quantum physics?

That's what I wish to know for now.
Thanks.

as far as I know , the Hubble Telescope ( you know the one orbiting Earth ) has the deepest look into space

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@Cyracuz,

Both optical and radio -- as well as ultraviolet, x-ray, and gamma ray telescopes are used in cosmology. Because of conditions in the early universe the most distant sources are radio-sources. So radio telescopes see father into space.

Yes quantum mechanics deals with radio waves. QM explains every force except gravity.

I have NO idea what the other posters are talking about.

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@Zarathustra,

Zarathustra wrote:

Both optical and radio -- as well as ultraviolet, x-ray, and gamma ray telescopes are used in cosmology. Because of conditions in the early universe the most distant sources are radio-sources. So radio telescopes see father into space.

Yes quantum mechanics deals with radio waves. QM explains every force except gravity.

I have NO idea what the other posters are talking about.

question

why would radio telescopes see further into space than , say , a gamma ray telescope ?

since gamma ray has more energy than a radio wave

2 Replies

@north,

Maybe because not all things emit gamma waves?

1 Reply

@Zarathustra,

Thanks for the answers, Zarathustra

My motive for asking was another question. I just wanted to get my facts right before asking:
Radio telescopes "see" sub-atomic waves. How are those translated into macro cosmic astral bodies?

I ask because I had a rather intuitive thought the other day. According to big bang theory, we look back in time towards the origin of the universe. This explanation has proven problematical, since it raises the question of pre-big bang conditions.
Quantum mechanics has no such thing as a linear timeline. How then can sub-atomic waves registered with a radio telescope give us an impression of a progression that follows a linear timeline?

1 Reply

@Cyracuz,

Cyracuz wrote:

Maybe because not all things emit gamma waves?

yet http://www.physorg.com/news173695636.html

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@north,

Thanks for the link. Smile

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@Cyracuz,

Cyracuz wrote:

Thanks for the link.

welcome

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@Cyracuz,

Radio waves are part of the EM spectrum just as visible light is. All sensing equipment "sees" only what arrives at it. If the sources don't emit, then the receivers don't receive (there is nothing to receive if it was never emitted).

The microwave background radiation is the "softest" signal the Universe emits, and it is also the most distant time wise. The WMAP equipment gives the best image of earliest heat in the Universe.

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@Cyracuz,

Cyracuz wrote:

I ask because I had a rather intuitive thought the other day. According to big bang theory, we look back in time towards the origin of the universe. This explanation has proven problematical, since it raises the question of pre-big bang conditions.

No, it doesn't.

Cyracuz wrote:

Quantum mechanics has no such thing as a linear timeline. How then can sub-atomic waves registered with a radio telescope give us an impression of a progression that follows a linear timeline?

Radio waves are no different than other EM waves except in their frequency. Why do you call them "sub-atomic" waves? They are just waves at a particular frequency.

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@rosborne979,

rosborne979 wrote:

Radio waves are part of the EM spectrum just as visible light is. All sensing equipment "sees" only what arrives at it. If the sources don't emit, then the receivers don't receive (there is nothing to receive if it was never emitted).

The microwave background radiation is the "softest" signal the Universe emits, and it is also the most distant time wise. The WMAP equipment gives the best image of earliest heat in the Universe.

WMAP does but only to a certain distance from us

WMAP can only eleminate microwaves from galaxies that are relatively close to us

not ALL galaxies in the Universe

hence it is a local microwave depiction of the local segment of the Universe

1 Reply

@north,

Because the cosmic background radiation (CBR) and all high energy photons has been red-shifted into the radio wavelengths part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The CBR is the farthest signal we know of, as it is the "wisper" from the BB.

The reason light isn't seen as far back is because light didn't exist until the "re-combination" some 300,000 years after the BB. The first 3000,000 years the universe was hot and as dark (in the sense of visible light) as it can get.

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@north,

WMAP detects the background heat from the Universe. It does not detect nor resolve galaxies at all. The WMAP pictures show the asymmetry of heat distribution in the early universe. That asymmetry eventually resulted in the super galactic threading structures and to the giant voids (bubbles) that form the basic filament structure of the Universe.

1 Reply

@Zarathustra,

Well, that kind of gives it away. We cannot really talk about something that makes conceptual sense to use as being fact when it is so manipulated to fit the parameters of our perception...

1 Reply

@rosborne979,

rosborne979 wrote:

WMAP detects the background heat from the Universe. It does not detect nor resolve galaxies at all. The WMAP pictures show the asymmetry of heat distribution in the early universe. That asymmetry eventually resulted in the super galactic threading structures and to the giant voids (bubbles) that form the basic filament structure of the Universe.

so WMAP is not based on microwave radiation ?

1 Reply

@north,

north wrote:

so WMAP is not based on microwave radiation ?

The WMAP detects Microwave radiation. WMAP stands for wilkinson microwave anisotropy probe.

You can get details on it here:
http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov

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