A Model Molecule and its Spectrum

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A Model Molecule and its Spectrum

Much of the work of radio astronomy is detection of the wiggling of molecules. This is the weakest of all energies traveling through space, and yet it tells us incredible details about so many different environments in our Solar System, Galaxy, and other galaxies. A model of a molecule (shown here 500 million times larger than life) spins in a very specific manner, making radio waves as it does. On the screen are the signals we receive when that molecule spins in space.

Credit: B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF)

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