Re: Visibility and wavelength

[shawl@torchlake.com (Jonathan Shawl)]

John, is the wavelength you are talking about more like the verrrrrry high end
of what would be called RF, like ultra high Freq. radar?
Or is it more like the verrrrry low end of what we call light? Is there a
"light" source for this millimeter range and how is it generated. Are we
dealing with wave guides or optical lenses, or something new and different in
between?
What are the sensors like?
This is a dark gray area to me, I hope you can shed some "light" on it for me.
:-)
One more related to my last post...
Ever wish you could turn off the bright stars so you can get a better look at
the dim ones in the background?

Jonathan Shawl

John Brownlee wrote:

>         When I speak of alternate wavelengths, I am really thinking of
> beyond the infrared stretching bands of water, longwards of 3 microns,
> probably more like sub-millimeter to millimeter. But, again, I have only
> seen these systems used to cut through clouds and rain, not standing water.
> The attenuation may be too great. These wavelengths are short enough to
> produce intuitive imagery to the human eye, but (in my theory which remains
> unresearched at this moment) long enough to avoid the primary visible/IR
> absorbtions and particle scattering.
>         Clear as mud? :)
>
>                                                         John
>
> John Brownlee
> Lunar and Planetary Lab
> University of Arizona
> jonnie @ lpl . arizona . edu