Glossary term: X-ray Astronomy
Description: X-ray astronomy is a field of study dedicated to collecting and analyzing all the information that comes from the cosmos in very energetic electromagnetic radiation (more energetic than ultraviolet radiation but less energetic than gamma radiation). X-rays have frequencies between 30 petahertz and 30 exahertz, which corresponds to wavelengths between 10 picometers and 10 nanometers. In the older unit of length still in use in many areas of astronomy, including X-ray astronomy, this corresponds to between 0.1 and 100 angstroms (Å). Given the prominence of the particle nature of light in that part of the spectrum, X-ray astronomers commonly use photon energies instead of wavelength to characterize what they measure. In terms of electron volts (eV), the energy measure common in particle physics, the above frequency and wavelength ranges correspond to photon energies between 100 eV and 100 keV. As the atmosphere absorbs most X-rays, X-ray astronomy is typically done by space telescopes. X-rays from astronomical sources come from extremely hot regions. These include the disks around compact objects such as black holes or neutron stars, and the hot corona of stars.
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Term and definition status: This term and its definition have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher
The OAE Multilingual Glossary is a project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach (OAO). The terms and definitions were chosen, written and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits here. All glossary terms and their definitions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE".
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In Other Languages
- Arabic: علم الفلك بالأشعة السينية
- German: Röntgenastronomie
- French: Astronomie des rayons X
- Hindi: एक्स-रे खगोल विज्ञान
- Italian: Astronomia a raggi X
- Japanese: X線天文学 (external link)
- Simplified Chinese: X 射线天文学
- Traditional Chinese: X 射線天文學
Related Media
Remnant of SN 1006
Caption: This image shows the remnant of the supernova SN 1006. This was probably the result of a white dwarf that accreted so much material from a binary companion star that the white dwarf exploded (this is called a Type 1a supernova by astronomers). This explosion happened several thousand years ago, however it took time for the light from this event to reach Earth, only arriving in the year 1006. This bright explosion was noticed by observers across the Earth and its appearance was noted in the records of many different societies.
Here we see the effect that supernova has had on its surroundings in the galaxy. The force of the explosion has blown a huge bubble in the surrounding interstellar gas with a hot shockwave at its edge. The image appears to be a simple color picture but it actually represents light far beyond what our eye can see. The blue is X-ray data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, the yellow and orange are data from optical telescopes and the red is detections in radio waves from the Very Large Array and the Green Bank Telescope. The bright blue of the outer shell shows the gas there is very hot and that the explosion produced energetic shock waves.
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Rutgers/G.Cassam-Chenai, Hughes et al.; Radio: NRAO/AUI/NSF/GBT/VLA/Dyer, Maddalena & Cornwell; Optical: Middlebury College/F.Winkler, NOAO/AURA/NSF/CTIO Schmidt & DSS
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