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3.1 Light, Cosmic Rays, Neutrinos, and Gravitational Waves

Pre-Lecture Reading 3.1

Video Lecture

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Light, Cosmic Rays, Neutrinos, Gravitational Waves (6:49)

Supplementary Notes

Information from the Universe

Waves

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Light (electromagnetic waves)
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  See Light.
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  The vast majority of the information that we receive from the universe we receive from light.
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Gravitational waves
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  See Gravitational Waves.
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  Waves in the space-time continuum
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  Not yet detected, but will probably be detected this decade
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  We will return to this topic in Astronomy 102.

Particles

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Cosmic rays
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  See Cosmic Rays.
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  High-speed, high-energy particles that produce showers of other particles when they strike our atmosphere
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Neutrinos
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  See Neutrinos.
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  Very-weakly-interacting, very-low-mass particles that mostly pass through Earth
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  Roughly 30 trillion pass through your skull every second.
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  A very small fraction can be detected.
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  We will return to this topic in Astronomy 102.