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An astrophysical maser is a naturally occurring source of stimulated spectral line emission, typically in the microwave portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. This emission may arise in molecular clouds, comets, planetary atmospheres, stellar atmospheres, or various other conditions in interstellar space .
The term is an acronym for microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. First suggested by Joseph Weber, the first maser was built by Charles H. Townes, James P. Gordon, and Herbert J. Zeiger at Columbia University in 1953. Townes, Nikolay Basov and Alexander Prokhorov were awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics for theoretical ...
Megamaser. A megamaser acts as an astronomical laser that beams out microwave emission rather than visible light (hence the ‘m’ replacing the ‘l’). [1] A megamaser is a type of astrophysical maser, which is a naturally occurring source of stimulated spectral line emission. Megamasers are distinguished from other astrophysical masers by ...
The same mechanism describes so-called astrophysical masers/lasers. The optical resonator is sometimes referred to as an "optical cavity", but this is a misnomer: lasers use open resonators as opposed to the literal cavity that would be employed at microwave frequencies in a maser. The resonator typically consists of two mirrors between which a ...
Interstellar formaldehyde (a topic relevant to astrochemistry) was first discovered in 1969 by L. Snyder et al. using the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. Formaldehyde (H 2 CO) was detected by means of the 1 11 - 1 10 ground state rotational transition at 4830 MHz. [1] On 11 August 2014, astronomers released studies, using the Atacama ...
Charles Hard Townes (July 28, 1915 – January 27, 2015) was an American physicist. Townes worked on the theory and application of the maser, for which he obtained the fundamental patent, and other work in quantum electronics associated with both maser and laser devices.
Supermassive black holes are classically defined as black holes with a mass above 100,000 ( 105) solar masses ( M☉ ); some have masses of several billion M☉. [12] Supermassive black holes have physical properties that clearly distinguish them from lower-mass classifications. First, the tidal forces in the vicinity of the event horizon are ...
Astronomical radio source. An astronomical radio source is an object in outer space that emits strong radio waves. Radio emission comes from a wide variety of sources. Such objects are among the most extreme and energetic physical processes in the universe .