Waves from space
Right this minute you’re being hit by “bullets” from outer space!
Space is full of waves. These aren’t the kind of waves you see on an
ocean, of course. They are waves of radiation. Radiation is streams of
tiny, tiny bits of atoms. These particles are so small you couldn’t see
them even with the most powerful microscope. They travel at tremendous
speed—186,282 miles (299,792 kilometers) per second. They are like
little bullets. When they reach earth, some of them go zipping right
through you, without you even knowing it!
Radiation is given off by most things in space—stars, quasars,
planets, and the huge clouds of gas and dust called nebulae. Radiation
comes to earth in the form of light, heat, radio waves, and what we call
X rays, cosmic rays, and gamma rays.
Earth’s atmosphere shuts some of these things out. Scientists think
there is also a kind of “wall” in our solar system that shuts out
others. This is a good thing, because if too many of some of these
particles entered peoples’ bodies, they could cause sickness.
Even though the particles are so small that the waves are invisible,
scientists have many machines that can find different kinds of radiation
and tell where it comes from.
this radio telescope can locate waves from space
