Portal:Radiation astronomy/Lesson/1

First microwave source in Cepheus
The first microwave source in Cepheus is unknown.

The field of microwave astronomy is the result of observations and theories about microwave sources detected in the sky above.

The first astronomical microwave source discovered may have been the Sun.

But, microwaves from the Sun are intermingled with other radiation so that the Sun may appear as other than a primary source for microwaves.

The early use of sounding rockets and balloons to carry microwave detectors high enough may have detected microwaves from the Sun as early as the 1940s.

This is a lesson in map reading, coordinate matching, and researching. It is also a research project in the history of microwave astronomy looking for the first astronomical microwave source discovered in the constellation of Cepheus.

Nearly all the background you need to participate and learn by doing you've probably already been introduced to at a secondary level and perhaps even a primary education level.

Some of the material and information is at the college or university level, and as you progress in finding microwave sources, you'll run into concepts and experimental tests that are actual research.

If stellar flares have origins similar to solar flares, then flare stars produce microwaves.