Cosmic noise

Last updated May 19, 2024

Cosmic noise, also known as galactic radio noise, is a physical phenomenon derived from outside of the Earth's atmosphere. It is not actually sound, and it can be detected through a radio receiver, which is an electronic device that receives radio waves and converts the information given by them to an audible form. Its characteristics are comparable to those of thermal noise. Cosmic noise occurs at frequencies above about 15 MHz when highly directional antennas are pointed toward the Sun or other regions of the sky, such as the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. Celestial objects like quasars, which are super dense objects far from Earth, emit electromagnetic waves in their full spectrum, including radio waves. The fall of a meteorite can also be heard through a radio receiver; the falling object burns from friction with the Earth's atmosphere, ionizing surrounding gases and producing radio waves. Cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) from outer space is also a form of cosmic noise. CMBR is thought to be a relic of the Big Bang, and pervades the space almost homogeneously over the entire celestial sphere. The bandwidth of the CMBR is wide, though the peak is in the microwave range.

History

Karl Jansky, an American physicist and radio engineer, first discovered radio waves from the Milky Way in August, 1931. At Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1932, Jansky built an antenna designed to receive radio waves at a frequency of 20.5 MHz, which is a wavelength of approximately 14.6 meters.

After recording signals with this antenna for several months, Jansky categorized them into three types: nearby thunderstorms, distant thunderstorms, and a faint steady hiss of an unknown origin. He discovered the location of maximum intensity rose and fell once a day, which led him to believe he was detecting radiation from the Sun.

A few months went by following this signal thought to be from the Sun, and Jansky found that the brightest point moved away from the Sun and concluded the cycle repeated every 23 hours and 56 minutes. After this discovery, Jansky concluded the radiation was coming from the Milky Way and was strongest in the direction of the center of the galaxy.

Jansky's work helped to distinguish between the radio sky and the optical sky. The optical sky is what is seen by the human eye, whereas the radio sky consists of daytime meteors, solar bursts, quasars, and gravitational waves.

Later in 1963, American physicist and radio astronomer Arno Allan Penzias (born April 26, 1933) discovered cosmic microwave background radiation. Penzias's discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation helped establish the Big Bang theory of cosmology. Penzias and his partner, Robert Woodrow Wilson worked together on ultra-sensitive cryogenic microwave receivers, originally intended for radio astronomy observations. In 1964, upon creating their most sensitive antenna/receiver system, the Holmdel Horn Antenna, the two discovered a radio noise they could not explain. After further investigation, Penzias contacted Robert Dicke, who suggested it could be the background radiation predicted by cosmological theories, a radio remnant of the Big Bang. Penzias and Wilson won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1978.

NASA's work

The Absolute Radiometer for Cosmology, Astrophysics, and Diffuse Emission (ARCADE) is a device designed to observe the transition out of the "cosmic dark ages" as the first stars ignite in nuclear fusion and the universe begins to resemble its current form.^[1]

ARCADE consists of 7 precision radiometers carried to an altitude of over 35 km (21 miles) by a scientific research balloon. The device measures the tiny heating of the early universe by the first generation of stars and galaxies to form after the Big Bang.

Sources of cosmic noise

Cosmic noise refers to the background radio frequency radiation from galactic sources, which have constant intensity during geomagnetically quiet periods.^[2]

Sun flares

Cosmic noise can be traced from solar flares, which are sudden explosive releases of stored magnetic energy in the atmosphere of the Sun, causing sudden brightening of the photosphere. Solar flares can last from a few minutes to several hours.

During solar flare events, particles and electromagnetic emissions can affect Earth's atmosphere by fluctuating the level of ionization in the Earth's ionosphere. Increased ionization results in absorption of the cosmic radio noise as it passes through the ionosphere.

Solar wind

Solar wind is a flux of particles, protons and electrons together with nuclei of heavier elements in smaller numbers, that are accelerated by the high temperatures of the solar corona to velocities large enough to allow them to escape from the Sun's gravitational field.^[3]

Solar wind causes sudden bursts of cosmic noise absorption in the Earth's ionosphere. These bursts can only be detected only if the magnitude of the geomagnetic field perturbation caused by the solar wind shock is large enough.^[4]

Related Research Articles

The cosmic microwave background is microwave radiation that fills all space in the observable universe. It is a remnant that provides an important source of data on the primordial universe. With a standard optical telescope, the background space between stars and galaxies is almost completely dark. However, a sufficiently sensitive radio telescope detects a faint background glow that is almost uniform and is not associated with any star, galaxy, or other object. This glow is strongest in the microwave region of the radio spectrum. The accidental discovery of the CMB in 1965 by American radio astronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson was the culmination of work initiated in the 1940s.

Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths shorter than other radio waves but longer than infrared waves. Its wavelength ranges from about one meter to one millimeter, corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz, broadly construed. A more common definition in radio-frequency engineering is the range between 1 and 100 GHz, or between 1 and 3000 GHz . The prefix micro- in microwave is not meant to suggest a wavelength in the micrometer range; rather, it indicates that microwaves are small, compared to the radio waves used in prior radio technology.

A radio telescope is a specialized antenna and radio receiver used to detect radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy, which studies the radio frequency portion of the electromagnetic spectrum emitted by astronomical objects, just as optical telescopes are the main observing instrument used in traditional optical astronomy which studies the light wave portion of the spectrum coming from astronomical objects. Unlike optical telescopes, radio telescopes can be used in the daytime as well as at night.

Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies, meteoroids, asteroids, and comets. Relevant phenomena include supernova explosions, gamma ray bursts, quasars, blazars, pulsars, and cosmic microwave background radiation. More generally, astronomy studies everything that originates beyond Earth's atmosphere. Cosmology is a branch of astronomy that studies the universe as a whole.

This timeline of cosmological theories and discoveries is a chronological record of the development of humanity's understanding of the cosmos over the last two-plus millennia. Modern cosmological ideas follow the development of the scientific discipline of physical cosmology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radio astronomy</span> Subfield of astronomy that studies celestial objects at radio frequencies

Radio astronomy is a subfield of astronomy that studies celestial objects at radio frequencies. The first detection of radio waves from an astronomical object was in 1933, when Karl Jansky at Bell Telephone Laboratories reported radiation coming from the Milky Way. Subsequent observations have identified a number of different sources of radio emission. These include stars and galaxies, as well as entirely new classes of objects, such as radio galaxies, quasars, pulsars, and masers. The discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation, regarded as evidence for the Big Bang theory, was made through radio astronomy.

Karl Guthe Jansky was an American physicist and radio engineer who in April 1933 first announced his discovery of radio waves emanating from the Milky Way in the constellation Sagittarius. He is considered one of the founding figures of radio astronomy.

The Cosmic Background Explorer, also referred to as Explorer 66, was a NASA satellite dedicated to cosmology, which operated from 1989 to 1993. Its goals were to investigate the cosmic microwave background radiation of the universe and provide measurements that would help shape our understanding of the cosmos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microwave radiometer</span> Tool measuring EM radiation at 0.3–300-GHz frequency

A microwave radiometer (MWR) is a radiometer that measures energy emitted at one millimeter-to-metre wavelengths (frequencies of 0.3–300 GHz) known as microwaves. Microwave radiometers are very sensitive receivers designed to measure thermally-emitted electromagnetic radiation. They are usually equipped with multiple receiving channels to derive the characteristic emission spectrum of planetary atmospheres, surfaces or extraterrestrial objects. Microwave radiometers are utilized in a variety of environmental and engineering applications, including remote sensing, weather forecasting, climate monitoring, radio astronomy and radio propagation studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arno Allan Penzias</span> American physicist (1933–2024)

Arno Allan Penzias was an American physicist and radio astronomer. Along with Robert Woodrow Wilson, he discovered the cosmic microwave background radiation, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1978.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astrophysics</span> Subfield of astronomy

Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline, James Keeler, said, Astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the nature of the heavenly bodies, rather than their positions or motions in space–what they are, rather than where they are." Among the subjects studied are the Sun, other stars, galaxies, extrasolar planets, the interstellar medium and the cosmic microwave background. Emissions from these objects are examined across all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, and the properties examined include luminosity, density, temperature, and chemical composition. Because astrophysics is a very broad subject, astrophysicists apply concepts and methods from many disciplines of physics, including classical mechanics, electromagnetism, statistical mechanics, thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, relativity, nuclear and particle physics, and atomic and molecular physics.

The Holmdel Horn Antenna is a large microwave horn antenna that was used as a satellite communication antenna and radio telescope during the 1960s at the Bell Telephone Laboratories facility located on Crawford Hill in Holmdel Township, New Jersey, United States. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989 because of its association with the research work of two radio astronomers, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson.

The discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation constitutes a major development in modern physical cosmology. In 1964, US physicist Arno Allan Penzias and radio-astronomer Robert Woodrow Wilson discovered the cosmic microwave background (CMB), estimating its temperature as 3.5 K, as they experimented with the Holmdel Horn Antenna. The new measurements were accepted as important evidence for a hot early Universe and as evidence against the rival steady state theory as theoretical work around 1950 showed the need for a CMB for consistency with the simplest relativistic universe models. In 1978, Penzias and Wilson were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for their joint measurement. There had been a prior measurement of the cosmic background radiation (CMB) by Andrew McKellar in 1941 at an effective temperature of 2.3 K using CN stellar absorption lines observed by W. S. Adams. Although no reference to the CMB is made by McKellar, it was not until much later after the Penzias and Wilson measurements that the significance of this measurement was understood.

Observational cosmology is the study of the structure, the evolution and the origin of the universe through observation, using instruments such as telescopes and cosmic ray detectors.

Robert Henry Dicke was an American astronomer and physicist who made important contributions to the fields of astrophysics, atomic physics, cosmology and gravity. He was the Albert Einstein Professor in Science at Princeton University (1975–1984).

In physical cosmology, the age of the universe is the time elapsed since the Big Bang. Astronomers have derived two different measurements of the age of the universe: a measurement based on direct observations of an early state of the universe, which indicate an age of 13.787±0.020 billion years as interpreted with the Lambda-CDM concordance model as of 2021; and a measurement based on the observations of the local, modern universe, which suggest a younger age. The uncertainty of the first kind of measurement has been narrowed down to 20 million years, based on a number of studies that all show similar figures for the age. These studies include researches of the microwave background radiation by the Planck spacecraft, the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe and other space probes. Measurements of the cosmic background radiation give the cooling time of the universe since the Big Bang, and measurements of the expansion rate of the universe can be used to calculate its approximate age by extrapolating backwards in time. The range of the estimate is also within the range of the estimate for the oldest observed star in the universe.

The Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) is a large radio telescope, with an antenna network located mainly in the Netherlands, and spreading across 7 other European countries as of 2019. Originally designed and built by ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, it was first opened by Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands in 2010, and has since been operated on behalf of the International LOFAR Telescope (ILT) partnership by ASTRON.

This is an index to articles about terms used in discussion of radio propagation.

Explorer 38 was the first NASA satellite to study Radio astronomy. Explorer 38 was launched as part of the Explorer program, being the first of the 2 RAE-satellites. Explorer 38 was launched on 4 July 1968 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, with a Delta J launch vehicle.

References

↑ "ARCADE – Absolute Radiometer for Cosmology, Astrophysics, Diffuse Emission". asd.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
↑ Ogunmodimu, Olugbenga; Honary, Farideh; Rogers, Neil; Falayi, E. O.; Bolaji, O. S. (2018-06-01). "Solar flare induced cosmic noise absorption". NRIAG Journal of Astronomy and Geophysics. 7 (1): 31–39. Bibcode:2018JAsGe...7...31O. doi: 10.1016/j.nrjag.2018.03.002 . ISSN 2090-9977.
↑ "Solar wind". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
↑ Osepian, A.; Kirkwood, S. (7 September 2004). "Cosmic radio-noise absorption bursts caused by solar wind shocks" (PDF). Annales Geophysicae. 22 (8): 2973–2987. Bibcode:2004AnGeo..22.2973O. doi: 10.5194/angeo-22-2973-2004 . S2CID 55842333. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-09-21. Retrieved 9 November 2022.

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[1] "ARCADE – Absolute Radiometer for Cosmology, Astrophysics, Diffuse Emission". asd.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2021-04-09.

[:2-2] Ogunmodimu, Olugbenga; Honary, Farideh; Rogers, Neil; Falayi, E. O.; Bolaji, O. S. (2018-06-01). "Solar flare induced cosmic noise absorption". NRIAG Journal of Astronomy and Geophysics. 7 (1): 31–39. Bibcode:2018JAsGe...7...31O. doi: 10.1016/j.nrjag.2018.03.002 . ISSN 2090-9977.

[3] "Solar wind". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2021-04-09.

[4] Osepian, A.; Kirkwood, S. (7 September 2004). "Cosmic radio-noise absorption bursts caused by solar wind shocks" (PDF). Annales Geophysicae. 22 (8): 2973–2987. Bibcode:2004AnGeo..22.2973O. doi: 10.5194/angeo-22-2973-2004 . S2CID 55842333. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-09-21. Retrieved 9 November 2022.

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