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 by Staff Writers Leiden, Netherlands (SPX) Sep 07, 2022
Compared to most other wavelengths, astronomy has a blind spot in the area of far-infrared radiation. A far-infrared space telescope can only utilize its full sensitivity with an actively cooled mirror below 4 Kelvin (-269 C). Such a telescope doesn't exist yet, which is why there has been little worldwide investment in the development of corresponding detectors. In 2004, SRON decided to break this vicious circle and invest in the development of Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KIDs). Now researchers from SRON and TU Delft have achieved the highest possible sensitivity, comparable to feeling the warmth of a candle on the Moon from Earth. Publication on September 6th in Astronomy and Astrophysics. In recent years we have been spoiled with the most beautiful pictures from telescopes working with X-rays, infrared, radio and visible light. To name a few: the image of the black hole in M87, the Hubble Extreme Deep Field or the baby picture of a planetary system. But in one wavelength area, astronomy is relatively blind: the far-infrared, especially at wavelengths between 300 um and 10 um. The Earth's atmosphere blocks most of this radiation for ground-based telescopes, while space telescopes often have a temperature such that they blind their detectors with the far-infrared radiation they emit themselves. With so much noise there is little incentive to commit large sums of money to the development of more sensitive far-infrared detectors. And with a lack of sensitive detectors, governments won't allocate funds to super-cooled noiseless telescopes. The story of the chicken and the egg.
Breakthrough 'An even higher sensitivity would have no use,' says Jochem Baselmans (SRON/TU Delft). 'Because you will always be limited by the noise of the Universe's background radiation. So our technology provides telescopes builders such as NASA and ESA with far-infrared detectors as sensitive as possible. We already see two proposals submitted to NASA for a super-cooled telescope. Those are much more expensive than relatively warm telescopes, but our KIDs make it worth it.'
Terahertz gap Moreover, the terahertz gap is a unique opportunity for adventurous astronomers to dive into the unknown. Baselmans: 'You don't know what you don't know. The Hubble Deep Field was created by pointing the Hubble telescope at a pitch-black piece of the sky with seemingly nothing in it. Afterwards, thousands of galaxies emerged, from an area smaller than one percent of the full moon.'
Candle on the Moon
Astronomers obtain sky's large-field X-ray maps Beijing (XNA) Sep 06, 2022 Chinese astronomers have released the world's first collection of large-field X-ray maps of the sky, captured by a small satellite put into orbit last month. The Wide-field X-ray Telescope, launched into orbit on July 27 by a solid-propellant-fuelled rocket, is the first large-field X-ray imaging telescope, according to the National Astronomical Observatory of China. After a four-day in-orbit observation, the telescope obtained X-ray images and the energy spectra of many celestial bodies in ... read more
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