Poem a Day April 3, 2012

Far Infrared

deep in the cold
dark and hidden
light-filled chambers
pulse
shine
 
distant echoes
modern ears
perceive brilliant
exhalations
starbirth
 
edge to edge
the signal travels
“I am here”
reflect
respond
 
what the eye cannot see
what the ear cannot hear
your mind may grasp

As usual, I needed to go on a hunt to figure out what this scientific term really means. Short of several years’ study… I discovered that far infrared actually shows COOLER objects than warmer! It also seems to show more distant objects than mid and near infrared. I assume it has something to do with the change in wavelength, perhaps at the far infrared the cool signatures just stay intact longer. However, most of the astronomy seems to be done with mid infrared.

Here are a couple of websites to help fill in a few details. The first, from Cal Tech has a lot of additional background pages linked at the bottom. A quick explanation of the EMR spectrum at the University of Tennessee. And the JPL-NASA-Cal Tech project called IPAC, which is the parent page from the first link. This last has up-to-date details on the most current research and lots of pictures!