2. How do they work?
Infrared telescopes by seeing infrared light and
detecting what is around it by the heat that stars and
celestial objects radiate.
All objects radiate some heat unless they are at
absolute zero. Depending on the telescope or used
device it becomes different colors at certain intervals.
For example black is the coldest and white is the
hottest.
3. Why to we use infrared telescopes?
Infrared radiation is heat. It is radiation in
electromagnet that is at longer wavelengths then light
we usually see with our naked eye. We can’t see it but
we can feel it, for example on a sunny day.
Infrared astronomy allows astronauts and
astrophysicists the ability to measure the temperature
of planetary bodies and stars and whatnot.
4. What do infrared telescopes need
to function properly?
Infrared telescopes must be built to minimize the
amount of heat generated by the telescope itself.
Since infrared telescopes emit a ton of heat, they need
to be shielded from the heat by people containing
them (or at least the ground-based telescopes) by
containing them in liquid nitrogen.
Infrared telescopes need electricity to function at all.
Infrared light reciever
5. Pros and Cons:
Pros Cons
We can see how warm Infrared telescopes need to be
celestial objects are. in a cold place if not
Would be used to detect artificially chilled.
foreign life forms. Produces a lot of heat on its
Smaller than other own because of the heat
telescopes. making the image inaccurate.
Infrared telescopes are hard
to use on land because of the
heat in the atmosphere
blocking a clear viewing.
6. Examples of Infrared Telescopes
The Spitzer Space Telescope was the fourth and final
of the NASA Great Observatories program.
There are two observatories on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
They are at an altitude of 4205 meters.
Kuiper Airborne Observatory, which operated from
1974 to 1995.