Submillimetre Astronomy: Proceedings of the Kona Symposium on Millimeter and Submillimetre Astronomy, Held at Kona, Hawaii, October 3-6, 1988 / Edition 1

by Graeme D. Watt, Adrian S. Webster

Overview

G. M. Bernstein, M. L. Fischer, and P. L. Richards Department of Physics, University of California Berkeley, California 94720, U. S. A. J. B. Peterson Department of Physics, Princeton University Princeton, New Jersey 08540, U. S. A. T. Timusk Department of Physics, McMaster University Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4M1 , Canada ABSTRACT. Recent measurements of the diffuse background at millimeter wavelengths indicate no departure from a Planck spectrum near the peak of the blackbody curve. Anisotropy measurements indicate no structure, at the 2% level, in the recently detected submillimeter excess. We report here the results of an April 1987 balloon flight of an instrument designed to measure the spectrum of the cosmic background radiation from 1 mm to 3 mm. A description of the instrument can be found in Peterson, Richards, and Timusk (1985). Modifications were made to the apparatus and experimental procedure in order to identify and reduce systematic errors. Results from the latest flight indicate that two effects hamper the interpretation of the data. These systematic effects will be described in detail in a forthcoming publications; they are probably responsible for the non-Planckian spectrum measured by Woody and Richards (1981). Attempts to remove the systematic effects from our data yield the upper limits to the CBR brightness temperature in 4 bands from 1 mm to 3 mm. There is no evidence for an excess of radiation near the 2. 8 K blackbody peak.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780792306146
Publisher:	Springer Netherlands
Publication date:	01/31/1990
Series:	Astrophysics and Space Science Library , #158
Edition description:	1990
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.24(d)

Table of Contents

Section I: Physics of the Interstellar Medium and Evolved Objects.- Section II: Instrumentation and Cosmic Background Experiments.- Section III: Chemistry of the Interstellar Medium.- Section IV: Star Formation.- Section V: Galaxies.- Section VI: Molecular Studies.- Section VII: Solar and Solar System Studies.- Indices.- Author Index.- Molecule Index.- Object Index.- General Index.

Editorial Reviews

Over a hundred short papers reporting results and techniques of observation in the millimetre and submillimetre regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Includes observations of the sun, asteroids, outflow sources, ionization fronts and cold molecular clouds; analyses of protostellar and circumstellar disks, shells, and mass loss; high resolution continuum and spectral line maps of galactic cloud regions and of extragalactic structures; dust studies of active galactic nucleii, colliding galaxies, ellipticals, spirals, and irregulars; spectral curves, turnover points, and flaring of quasars and blazars; measurements and search for anisotrophy in the background radiation; and discussions of instrumentation. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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