Reference no: EM133228858

Telescopes Participation Exercise

Adapted from Lecture Tutorials for Introductory Astronomy workbook

You will use the diagram below from your Discovering the Essential Universe textbook to answer the following questions about electromagnetic radiation.

1. Which form or forms of electromagnetic radiation (light) above are completely absorbed in our atmosphere?

2. Which form or forms of electromagnetic radiation above completely penetrate our atmosphere?

3. Which form or forms of electromagnetic radiation above only partially penetrate our atmosphere?

For questions in this section, you will be picking a telescope project to fund considering the following 3 facts: telescopes in space are more expensive than telescopes on Earth, telescopes work more efficiently in higher elevations, and certain wavelengths of light are partially or completely blocked from the Earth's surface by the atmosphere.

4. Which project would you fund and why? Project Alderaan where a gamma ray telescope placed at the South Pole would examine black holes OR Project Tatooine where a visible light telescope is placed at a community college to search for planets outside of our solar system.

5. Which project would you fund and why? Project Hoth where a visible light telescope would be placed in orbit above the Earth to look at galaxies OR Project Endor where an infrared telescope would be placed at Mauna Kea in Hawaii to look at supernova explosions.

6. Which project would you fund and why? Project Mandalore where an infrared telescope would be placed in the mountains of South America to look at young stars OR Project Bespin where a radio telescope would be placed in Meteor Crater to detect communications from civilizations outside of our solar system.