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Source Counts
The source counts distribution of radio-sources from a radio-astronomical survey is the cumulative distribution of the number of sources (''N'') brighter than a given flux density (''S''). As it is usually plotted on a log-log scale its distribution is known as the log ''N'' – log ''S'' plot. It is one of several cosmological tests that were conceived in the 1930s to check the viability of and compare new cosmological models. Early work to catalogue radio sources aimed to determine the source count distribution as a discriminating test of different cosmological models. For example, a uniform distribution of radio sources at low redshift, such as might be found in a 'steady-state Euclidean universe,' would produce a slope of −1.5 in the cumulative distribution of log(''N'') versus log(''S''). Data from the early Cambridge 2C survey (published 1955) apparently implied a (log(''N''), log(''S'')) slope of nearly −3.0. This appeared to invalidate the steady state t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radio Astronomy
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. Radio astronomy is conducted using large radio antennas referred to as radio telescopes, that are either used singularly, or with multiple linked telescopes utilizing the techniques of radio interferometry and aperture synthesis. The use of interferometry allows radio astronomy to achieve high angular resolution, as the resolving power of an interferometer is set ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cumulative Distribution Function
In probability theory and statistics, the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of a real-valued random variable X, or just distribution function of X, evaluated at x, is the probability that X will take a value less than or equal to x. Every probability distribution supported on the real numbers, discrete or "mixed" as well as continuous, is uniquely identified by an ''upwards continuous'' ''monotonic increasing'' cumulative distribution function F : \mathbb R \rightarrow ,1/math> satisfying \lim_F(x)=0 and \lim_F(x)=1. In the case of a scalar continuous distribution, it gives the area under the probability density function from minus infinity to x. Cumulative distribution functions are also used to specify the distribution of multivariate random variables. Definition The cumulative distribution function of a real-valued random variable X is the function given by where the right-hand side represents the probability that the random variable X takes on a value less tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cosmological Test
Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher Christian Wolff, in ''Cosmologia Generalis''. Religious or mythological cosmology is a body of beliefs based on mythological, religious, and esoteric literature and traditions of creation myths and eschatology. In the science of astronomy it is concerned with the study of the chronology of the universe. Physical cosmology is the study of the observable universe's origin, its large-scale structures and dynamics, and the ultimate fate of the universe, including the laws of science that govern these areas. It is investigated by scientists, such as astronomers and physicists, as well as philosophers, such as metaphysicians, philosophers of physics, and philosophers of space and time. Because of this shared scope with philosophy, theories in p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cosmological Models
Physical cosmology is a branch of cosmology concerned with the study of cosmological models. A cosmological model, or simply cosmology, provides a description of the largest-scale structures and dynamics of the universe and allows study of fundamental questions about its origin, structure, evolution, and ultimate fate.For an overview, see Cosmology as a science originated with the Copernican principle, which implies that celestial bodies obey identical physical laws to those on Earth, and Newtonian mechanics, which first allowed those physical laws to be understood. Physical cosmology, as it is now understood, began with the development in 1915 of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, followed by major observational discoveries in the 1920s: first, Edwin Hubble discovered that the universe contains a huge number of external galaxies beyond the Milky Way; then, work by Vesto Slipher and others showed that the universe is expanding. These advances made it possible ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second Cambridge Catalogue Of Radio Sources
The Second Cambridge Catalogue of Radio Sources (2C) was published in 1955 by John R Shakeshaft and colleagues. It comprised a list of 1936 sources between declinations -38 and +83, giving their right ascension, declination, both in 1950.0 coordinates, and flux density. The observations were made with the Cambridge Interferometer, at 81.5 MHz. The data appeared to show a flux/number ('source counts') trend which precluded some cosmological models (such as the Steady-State):- For a uniform distribution of radio sources the slope of the cumulative distribution of log(number, N) versus log (power, S) would have been -1.5, but the Cambridge data apparently implied a (log(N),log(S)) slope of nearly -3.0. Unfortunately, this interpretation was premature as a significant number of the sources listed were later found to be the product of 'confusion', the blending of several weaker sources in the lobes of the interferometer to produce the apparent effect of a single stronger source. K ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steady State Theory
In cosmology, the steady-state model, or steady state theory is an alternative to the Big Bang theory of evolution of the universe. In the steady-state model, the density of matter in the expanding universe remains unchanged due to a continuous creation of matter, thus adhering to the perfect cosmological principle, a principle that asserts that the observable universe is practically the same at any time and any place. While from the 1940s to the 1960s the astrophysical community was equally divided between supporters of the Big Bang theory and supporters of the steady-state theory, it is now rejected by the vast majority of cosmologists, astrophysicists and astronomers, as the observational evidence points to a hot Big Bang cosmology with a finite age of the universe, which the steady-state model does not predict. History In the 13th century, Siger of Brabant authored the thesis ''The Eternity of the World'', which argued that there was no first man, and no first specimen of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fred Hoyle
Sir Fred Hoyle FRS (24 June 1915 – 20 August 2001) was an English astronomer who formulated the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis and was one of the authors of the influential B2FH paper. He also held controversial stances on other scientific matters—in particular his rejection of the "Big Bang" theory (a term coined by him on BBC Radio) in favor of the " Steady State" hypothesis, and his promotion of panspermia as the origin of life on Earth. He also wrote science fiction novels, short stories and radio plays, and co-authored twelve books with his son, Geoffrey Hoyle. He spent most of his working life at the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge and served as its director for six years. Biography Early life and career Hoyle was born near Bingley in Gilstead, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. His father, Ben Hoyle, who was a violinist and worked in the wool trade in Bradford, served as a machine gunner in the First World War. His mother, Mabel Pickard, had studied ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hermann Bondi
Sir Hermann Bondi (1 November 1919 – 10 September 2005) was an Austrian-British mathematician and cosmologist. He is best known for developing the steady state model of the universe with Fred Hoyle and Thomas Gold as an alternative to the Big Bang theory. He contributed to the theory of general relativity,Obituaries: Professor Sir Hermann Bondi(12 September 2005) in ''The Independent''. Professor Sir Hermann Bondi(2005-09-13) in ''The Telegraph''. Sir Hermann Bondi(2005-09-14) in ''The Guardian''. Sir Hermann Bondi: 1919–2005(2005-09-14) in ''Physics World'', IOP. Black hole scientist Bondi dies(2005-09-17), BBC News. and was the first to analyze the inertial and gravitational interaction of negative mass and the first to explicate correctly the nature of gravitational waves. In his 1990 autobiography, Bondi regarded the 1962 work on gravitational waves as his "best scientific work". Early life Bondi was born in Vienna, the son of a Jewish medical doctor. He was broug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Gold
Thomas Gold (May 22, 1920 – June 22, 2004) was an Austrian-born American astrophysicist, a professor of astronomy at Cornell University, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and a Fellow of the Royal Society (London). Gold was one of three young Cambridge scientists who in 1948 proposed the now mostly abandoned "steady state" hypothesis of the universe. Gold's work crossed academic and scientific boundaries, into biophysics, astronomy, aerospace engineering, and geophysics. Early life Gold was born on May 22, 1920, in Vienna, Austria, to Max Gold, a wealthy Jewish industrialist (pre-war) who ran one of Austria's largest mining and metal fabrication companies, and German former actress Josefine Martin. Following the economic downfall of the European mining industry in the late 1920s, Max Gold moved his family to Berlin, where he had taken a job as director of a metal trading company.. Following the start of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's anti-Jewish campaigns in 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mills Cross
The Mills Cross Telescope was a two-dimensional radio telescope built by Bernard Mills in 1954 at the Fleurs field station of the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in the area known now as Badgerys Creek, about 40 km west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Each arm of the cross was 1500 feet (450 m) long, running N–S and E–W, and produced a fan beam in the sky. Mills said it "consists of two rows of 250 half-wave dipole elements backed by a plane wire mesh reflector; the individual dipoles are aligned in an E-W direction." The cross operated at a frequency of 85.5 MHz (3.5m wavelength), giving a 49 arcminute beam. When the voltages of the two arms were multiplied a pencil beam was formed, but with rather high sidelobes. The beam could be steered in the sky by adjusting the phasing of the elements in each arm. Science Between 1954 and 1957, Bernard Mills, Eric R. Hill and O. Bruce Slee, using the Mills Cross, carried out a d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Third Cambridge Catalogue Of Radio Sources
The Third Cambridge Catalogue of Radio Sources (3C) is an astronomical catalogue of celestial radio sources detected originally at 159 MHz, and subsequently at 178 MHz. History 3C The catalogue was published in 1959 by members of the Cavendish Astrophysics Group, Radio Astronomy Group of the University of Cambridge. Entries in the catalogue are identified by the prefix "3C" followed by the entry number, with a space - for example, 3C 273. The catalogue was produced using the Cambridge Interferometer on the west side of Cambridge. The interferometer had previously been used for the Second Cambridge Catalogue of Radio Sources (2C) survey, published in 1955. 3CR The catalogue was subsequently revised by Bennett in 1962 using observations at 178 MHz, and for many years '3CR' was considered as the definitive listing of the brighter radio sources in the Northern Hemisphere. The revision resulted in a number of sources being deleted from the catalogue (as being below the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fourth Cambridge Catalogue Of Radio Sources
The Fourth Cambridge Survey (4C) is an astronomical catalogue of celestial radio sources as measured at 178 MHz using the 4C Array. It was published in two parts, in 1965 (for declinations +20 to +40) and 1967 (declinations -7 to + 20 and +40 to +80), by the Radio Astronomy Group of the University of Cambridge. References to entries in this catalogue use the prefix 4C followed by the declination in degrees, followed by a period, and then followed by the source number on that declination strip, e.g. 4C-06.23. The 4C Array, which used the technique of aperture synthesis, could reliably position sources with flux densities of around 2 Jy, to within about 0.35 arcmin in Right ascension and 2.5 arcmin in declination In astronomy, declination (abbreviated dec; symbol ''δ'') is one of the two angles that locate a point on the celestial sphere in the equatorial coordinate system, the other being hour angle. Declination's angle is measured north or south of the .... References ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
