Radiation & Photometry

AS4100 Astrofisika Pengamatan

Prodi Astronomi 2007/2008
B. Dermawan
 Radiometry & Photometry

In astronomy the term photometry covers the

quite general meaning of radiometry. Noting
that most of the quantities to be defined refer
to some specified wavelength or frequency.
Hence, the correct term would be
spectrophotometry
 Definitions
Standard Photometry Bradt 2004
Etendue (throughput)
Transported power
Monochromatic flux
Reduced brightness
Luminosity
Polarisation
Magnitudes
Color indices
 Photometry Through the Atmosphere
Extinction correction must be applied even at wavelengths
for which the atmosphere is almost transparent
The transmitted frequency


I ( ) I 0 exp sec k ( z )dz
0

Difficult for infrared due to the considerable lack of homogeneity

in the space and time distribution of water vapor

In order to calculate an emitted intensity,

correction for interstellar extinction is required
Calibration and Intensity Standards

Determining absolute values of astrophysical

quantities:

1. Fundamental because the consistency of the

physical models depends on these values
2. Difficult because astronomical instruments
are complex machines, observing in
conditions which are often hard to reproduce
 Calibration and Intensity Standards
Calibration categories
Energy: to measure a specific intensity (a function of
angular position at a given frequency)
Spectral: to establish the absolute frequency of
observed spectral lines
Angular: to find the absolute angular positions of a set
of reference sources (astrometry)
Time: to time the variations of a source (chronometry)
 Calibration and Intensity Standards
Radiofrequencies ( > 1 mm)
Blackbody (Rayleigh-Jeans approx.): B 2 2

2
kT
c
Method 1 (Earths surface as the blackbody source):

1
P B ( ) d d kT
2 4 0 2
V 4kTR
Method 2 (linked to a noise source): P 4kT
R R
Method 3: the voltage V(t) across a resistance fluctuates
randomly (noise generator with V(t) = 0)

Spectral calibration: direct comparison with the clocks or

oscillators (electrical oscillation)
 Calibration and Intensity Standards
Submillimeter, infrared, and visible
Absolute photometric calibration
P ( )B( , T )t ( , r , ) ddrd
Temperature: pyrometry, lamps with ribbon filaments,
uncertain in visible
Emissivity (): depends on the geometry of the source and
the type of material, uncertain in IR

Beam geometry t(,r, ): geometric

considerations dominate for < 5 m,
there are sidelobes for mid IR and
sub-mm (reduced by apodisation)
Lna et al. 1996
 Calibration and Intensity Standards
Lna et al. 1996
Relative calibration
Using stars or reference objects
Visible: the star Vega
Near IR ( < 25 m): series of stars
Far IR (20 m < < 1 mm):
planetary radiation, asteroids

Spectral calibration
Visible: spectral lamps, lasers,
atomic emission line of a gas
near IR: atm. emission lines of
radical OH
 Calibration and Intensity Standards
Ultraviolet and X-rays (0.1 nm < < 300 nm)
Using thermal and synchrotron radiation sources

Thermal sources
Region 100-300 nm: hot plasmas (T 14000 K), emitted
intensity is very close to that of a black body if optical depth is
larger than unity
Region 0.1-100 nm: thermal free-free emission of a plasma
created in a pulsed discharge tube (T = 1.5106 K, Ne = 21017
cm-3)
 Calibration and Intensity Standards
Non-thermal sources (synchrotron radiation)
Emitted by electrons accelerated in a magnetic field
Not only suitable in the UV and X-ray regions, but also excellent
in the visible and near IR

Lna et al. 1996

 Calibration and Intensity Standards
Gamma radiation
Detectors always function in counting mode, and with two
possible objectives:
- an energy calibration of each photon (spectrometry), and
- some measurement of the efficiency of detection
(photometry)
Low energies (< 2 MeV): radioactive samples
High energies: particle accelerators

Photometric: stable reference object of known spectrum

Spectral: observing emission lines from radioactive de-excitation
 Calibration and Intensity Standards
Some examples of spectrophotometry

The Sun

Lna et al. 1996

 Calibration and Intensity Standards
Extragalactic radiofrequency sources Lna et al. 1996

Cosmological background radiation

WMAP-NASA