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Infrared Telescope Lifts Off
An anonymous reader writes "On its Delta 2 Heavy-Lift vehicle, the Space Infrared Telescope (SIRTF) successfully launched to its solar orbit at 1:35 AM (EDT). As a result of the expansion of the Universe, most of the optical and ultraviolet radiation emitted from stars, galaxies, and quasars since the beginning of time now lies in the infrared. How and when the first objects in the Universe formed will be learned in large part from this observatory's infrared observations."
Now they can catch me speeding from outer space!
Am I the only one who thinks that the SIRTF looks a bit like a high-end coffee machine?
Rus
Cheap UK and US VPS
> So, this means it will be able to see through those bikinis, eh?
First you'd have to spot one among the heavens. Aren't you being a tad optimistic?
From your link:
The electromagnetic spectrum includes gamma rays, X-rays, ultraviolet, visible, infrared, microwaves, and radio waves. The only difference between these different types of radiation is their wavelength or frequency.
Dumbass....
They will soon be needing LONG exposure times.
As long as they can point accuratly, it shouldn't be a problem.
Things in space inevitably drift a little, but the beauty of digital cameras is that you don't have to do the exposure all at once. You could pause, re-aim the telescope then begin again.
Thanks for all the responses! You've shed a lot of light, on heat.
I'm a writer, a poet, a genius, I know it. I don't buy software, I grow it.
...I'm happy to say that code is all Java based...
Oh, so THAT'S why it's shaped like a giant coffee maker.
From the CNN.com article:
SIRTF's detectors are incredibly sensitive. If you could put a common household television remote control in deep space SIRTF could detect it at a distance of 25,000 miles.
Considering that taxpayers put up 1.9 billion for the observatory, do you think they could use it to find the remote cotrol that I lost in my living room?
SIRTF will be following the Earth around the sun, kind of like a faithful puppy dog," astronomer Michael Werner said.
We'll be fine as long as it doesn't try to hump the Earth's leg!
Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but copyright will always protect me.
reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend many years ago that we still laugh about...
him: if you had an infinitely small aperature, you could take pictures with infinite depth of field!
me: but you'd have to take an infinitely long exposure...
him: not if you had infinitely fast film!
-calyxa
Decay! Decay! Decay! -Helium