Kinds of Astronomy-5

Abstract

Astronomers study light and basically, almost everything we know about the universe has been figured out through the study of light gathered by telescopes on the earth, in the earth's atmosphere, and in space. This light comes in many different colors, the sum of which comprises what is commonly I known as the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum. Unfortunately, the earth's atmosphere blocks almost all of wavelengths in the EM spectrum. Only the visible (400-700 mn) and radio (approx. 1-150 m) "windows" are accessible from the ground, and thus have the longest observational "history." These early restrictions on the observational astronomer also gave rise to classifying "kinds" of astronomy based on their respective EM portion, such as the term "radio astronomy."