An Illustrated Guide to X-rays, Light and NASA's Great Observatories

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. The electromagnetic thermometer scale featuring Compton, Chandra, Hubble, Spitzer & ALMA.
X-rays are associated with high temperatures of about 10 million to 100 million K. Image (A) features multiwavelength images of the Milky Way. Gamma Ray: CGRO/EGRET; X- Ray: ROSAT/PSPC; Optical: Laustsen et al. Photomosaic; Infrared: IRAS; Radio: Bonn, J.Bank, & Parkes. More information on the Multiwavelength Milky Way. (Credit: NASA/CXC/M. Weiss)

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. The Electromagnetic Spectrum.
NASA's Great Observatories (CGRO, Chandra, HST and Spitzer) & the electromagnetic thermometer scale. X-rays are associated with high temperatures of about 10 million - 100 million K (Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss)

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. The Electromagnetic Spectrum
Electromagnetic thermometer scale. X-rays are typically associated with high temperatures about 10 million - 100 million degrees K. (Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss)

Related Field Guide: X-Rays - Another Form of Light
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. The Electromagnetic Spectrum
Electromagnetic thermometer scale. X-rays associated with high temperatures about 10 million - 100 million degrees K. (Credit: NASA/CXC)

Related Field Guide: X-Rays - Another Form of Light
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. The Electromagnetic Spectrum
Wavelengths and energies from gamma rays to radio. Telescopes include CGRO, Chandra, COBE, HST, Spitzer, EUVE & ALMA. (Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss)
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. The Electromagnetic Spectrum
The wavelength of radiation produced by an object is usually related to its temperature. More Information (Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss)
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. The Electromagnetic Spectrum
The wavelength of radiation produced by an object is usually related to its temperature. More Information (Credit: NASA/CXC)
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. The Electromagnetic Spectrum.
Includes wavelengths and energies from radio to gamma rays. (Credit: NASA/CXC/S. Lee)

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. Baseball Field
Imagine if you could see only a tiny sliver of a baseball field. You would never be able to figure out the rules of the game. In the same way, we need x-ray, gamma-ray, ultraviolet, infrared and radio telescopes to cover the full range of wavelengths to get an accurate picture of what is happening in the universe.
(Credit: NASA/CXC/S.Wolk)