query: Often the compensatory cooling, known as La Niña, is larger than the El Niño warming.”

positive: El Niño–Southern Oscillation El Niño -- Southern Oscillation ( ENSO ) is an irregularly periodical variation in winds and sea surface temperatures over the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean , affecting much of the tropics and subtropics . The warming phase is known as El Niño and the cooling phase as La Niña . Southern Oscillation is the accompanying atmospheric component , coupled with the sea temperature change : El Niño is accompanied with high , and La Niña with low air surface pressure in the tropical western Pacific . The two periods last several months each ( typically occur every few years ) and their effects vary in intensity .   The two phases relate to the Walker circulation , discovered by Gilbert Walker during the early twentieth century . The Walker circulation is caused by the pressure gradient force that results from a high pressure system over the eastern Pacific Ocean , and a low pressure system over Indonesia . When the Walker circulation weakens or reverses , an El Niño results , causing the ocean surface to be warmer than average , as upwelling of cold water occurs less or not at all . An especially strong Walker circulation causes a La Niña , resulting in cooler ocean temperatures due to increased upwelling .   Mechanisms that cause the oscillation remain under study . The extremes of this climate pattern 's oscillations cause extreme weather ( such as floods and droughts ) in many regions of the world . Developing countries dependent upon agriculture and fishing , particularly those bordering the Pacific Ocean , are the most affected .

positive: El Niño El Niño -LSB- ɛl_ˈniːnjoʊ -RSB- ( -LSB- el ˈniɲo -RSB- ) is the warm phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation ( commonly called ENSO ) and is associated with a band of warm ocean water that develops in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific ( between approximately the International Date Line and 120 ° W ) , including off the Pacific coast of South America . El Niño Southern Oscillation refers to the cycle of warm and cold temperatures , as measured by sea surface temperature , SST , of the tropical central and eastern Pacific Ocean . El Niño is accompanied by high air pressure in the western Pacific and low air pressure in the eastern Pacific . The cool phase of ENSO is called `` La Niña '' with SST in the eastern Pacific below average and air pressures high in the eastern and low in western Pacific . The ENSO cycle , both El Niño and La Niña , cause global changes of both temperatures and rainfall .   Developing countries that are dependent upon agriculture and fishing , particularly those bordering the Pacific Ocean , are usually most affected . In American Spanish , the capitalized term `` El Niño '' refers to `` the little boy '' , so named because the pool of warm water in the Pacific near South America is often at its warmest around Christmas . The original name , `` El Niño de Navidad '' , traces its origin centuries back to Peruvian fisherman , who named the weather phenomenon in reference to the newborn Christ . `` La Niña '' , chosen as the ` opposite ' of El Niño , literally translates to `` the little girl '' .

positive: La Niña La Niña ( -LSB- lɑːˈniːnjə -RSB- , -LSB- la ˈniɲa -RSB- ) is a coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon that is the counterpart of El Niño as part of the broader El Niño -- Southern Oscillation climate pattern . The name La Niña originates from Spanish , meaning `` the little girl '' , analogous to El Niño meaning `` the little boy '' . It has also in the past been called anti-El Niño , and El Viejo ( meaning `` the old man '' ) . During a period of La Niña , the sea surface temperature across the equatorial Eastern Central Pacific Ocean will be lower than normal by 3 to 5 ° C . In the United States , an appearance of La Niña persists for at least five months . It has extensive effects on the weather in North America , even affecting the Atlantic Hurricane Season .

negative: Sarah Barlondo Sarah Barlondo is a French actress . She plays the role of Aranza in the Mexican television series Un Refugio para el Amor .   She also appeared in the series La Fuerza del Destino , Ni contigo ni sin ti and Esperanza del Corazón .

negative: Sabine Moussier Sabine Moussier ( -LSB- saˈβine muˈsjer -RSB- ; born Diana Sabine Moussier August 23 , 1966 in Leverkusen , North Rhine-Westphalia , West Germany ) is a German-Mexican actress who is best known for her villainous roles in Televisa 's telenovelas , such as El privilegio de amar , Entre el amor y el odio , La madrastra , Amar sin límites , Piel de otoño , Amor sin maquillaje , Las tontas no van al cielo , Mi pecado , Abismo de pasión , La malquerida y Que te perdone Dios . She starred as the protagonist in Ni contigo ni sin ti .

negative: Ni Zhiqin Ni Zhiqin ( ; born 14 April 1942 in Quanzhou ) often referred to as Ni Chih-Chin , is a retired Chinese high jumper .   He is known for breaking the world record with 2.29 m on 8 November 1970 in Changsha , but because PR China was not a member of the International Association of Athletics Federations at the time , his record was never ratified .

negative: Ame no Hi ni wa Ame no Naka o Kaze no Hi ni wa Kaze no Naka o `` Ame no Hi ni wa Ame no Naka o Kaze no Hi ni wa Kaze no Naka o '' ( 雨の日には 雨の中を 風の日には 風の中を , In the Rain When It 's Rainy , In the Wind When It 's Windy ) , is the twenty-eighth single and second collaboration single released by J-Pop singer Hitomi Shimatani . It is set to be released on June 25 , 2008 , and restricted to a CD-only format . It was released on the same day as a solo single from Hitomi , entitled Wake You Up/Ame no Hi ni wa Ame no Naka o Kaze no Hi ni wa Kaze no Naka o/Marvelous , which contains the tracks Wake You Up and Marvelous , which are not included on this single . However , it will not contain Amaoto , a b-side which will be included on this version of the single .   This single will also contain bonus rap and duet versions of the title track , and the jacket artwork is said to be based on the book , Ame no Hi ni Wa .

negative: Ni Por La Razón, Ni Por La Fuerza Ni por la razón , ni por la fuerza is a double album compilation of the Chilean band Los Prisioneros launched in 1996 .   Consists of almost all songs from the band , also includes new songs , both ancient and contemporary . It is considered by many critics as the best compilation album of the group .   The disc name parodies the Chilean patriotic theme , in token of their full contradiction .   On the album cover can be seen Jorge González Ríos , Claudio Narea and Miguel Tapia as the heroes of the motherland .

negative: Polar amplification Polar amplification is the phenomenon that any change in the net radiation balance ( for example greenhouse intensification ) tends to produce a larger change in temperature near the poles than the planetary average . On a planet with an atmosphere that can restrict longwave radiation to space ( a greenhouse effect ) , surface temperatures will be warmer than a simple planetary equilibrium temperature calculation would predict . Where the atmosphere or an extensive ocean is able to convect heat polewards , the poles will be warmer and equatorial regions cooler than their local net radiation balances would predict .   In the extreme , the planet Venus is thought to have experienced a very large increase in greenhouse effect over its lifetime , so much so that its poles have warmed sufficiently to render its surface temperature effectively isothermal ( no difference between poles and equator ) . On Earth , water vapor and trace gasses provide a lesser greenhouse effect , and the atmosphere and extensive oceans provide efficient poleward heat transport . Both palaeoclimate changes and recent global warming changes have exhibited strong polar amplification , as described below .

negative: Ni ke Dre Ni ke Dre , Νι και Ντρε ( el ) is an anonymous Greek sousta . The meter is .

negative: Wake You Up/Ame no Hi ni wa Ame no Naka o Kaze no Hi ni wa Kaze no Naka o/Marvelous Wake You Up/Ame no Hi ni wa Ame no Naka o Kaze no Hi ni wa Kaze no Naka o/Marvelous ( 雨の日には 雨の中を 風の日には 風の中を , in the rain when it 's rainy , in the wind when it 's windy ) , is twenty-eighth single released by J-Pop singer Hitomi Shimatani . Released on June 25 , 2008 , it is only available in a CD+DVD format . It was released the same day as an additional collaboration single with Mitsuo Aida , Ame no Hi ni wa Ame no Naka wo Kaze no Hi ni wa Kaze no Naka wo , whose title and track listing differ slightly from this single 's ( and exclude the tracks Marvelous and Wake You Up ) and thus is considered a separate single .   Wake You Up had been announced as the theme song for the 2008 Japanese television drama series K-tai Investigator 7 .   The DVD is known to contain the music videos for all three title tracks .   This information is subject to change at the moment .

negative: Atmospheric circulation Atmospheric circulation is the large-scale movement of air , and together with ocean circulation is the means by which thermal energy is redistributed on the surface of the Earth .   The Earth 's atmospheric circulation varies from year to year , but the large scale structure of its circulation remains fairly constant . The smaller scale weather systems -- mid-latitude depressions , or tropical convective cells -- occur `` randomly '' , and long range weather predictions of those can not be made beyond ten days in practice , or a month in theory ( see Chaos theory and Butterfly effect ) .   The Earth 's weather is a consequence of its illumination by the Sun , and the laws of thermodynamics . The atmospheric circulation can be viewed as a heat engine driven by the Sun 's energy , and whose energy sink , ultimately , is the blackness of space . The work produced by that engine causes the motion of the masses of air and in that process it redistributes the energy absorbed by the Earth 's surface near the tropics to space and incidentally to the latitudes nearer the poles .   The large scale atmospheric circulation `` cells '' shift polewards in warmer periods ( for example , interglacials compared to glacials ) , but remain largely constant as they are , fundamentally , a property of the Earth 's size , rotation rate , heating and atmospheric depth , all of which change little . Over very long time periods ( hundreds of millions of years ) , a tectonic uplift can significantly alter their major elements , such as the jet stream , and plate tectonics may shift ocean currents . During the extremely hot climates of the Mesozoic , a third desert belt may have existed at the Equator .

negative: Mictomagnetism Mictomagnetism is a spin system in which various exchange interactions are mixed . It is observed in several kinds of alloys , including Cu-Mn , Fe-Al and Ni-Mn alloys . Cooled in zero magnetic field , these materials have low remanence and coercivity . Cooled in a magnetic field , they have much larger remanence and the hysteresis loop is shifted in the direction opposite to the field ( an effect similar to exchange bias ) .

negative: Ni Kuang Ni Cong ( born 30 May 1935 ) , courtesy name Yiming , better known by his pen name Ni Kuang ( also romanised Ngai Hong , I Kuang and Yi Kuang ) , is a Hong Kong-American novelist and screenwriter . He has written over 300 Chinese-language wuxia and science fiction novels , and more than 400 film scripts .

negative: Larry R. Johnson Larry R. Johnson was a noted meteorologist .

negative: Nickel(II) nitrate Nickel nitrate is the inorganic compound Ni ( NO3 ) 2 or any hydrate thereof . The anhydrous form is not commonly encountered , thus `` nickel nitrate '' usually refers to nickel ( II ) nitrate hexahydrate . The formula for this species is written in two ways . Ni ( NO3 ) 2.6 H2O and , more descriptively -LSB- Ni ( H2O ) 6 -RSB- ( NO3 ) 2 . The latter formula indicates that the nickel ( II ) center is surrounded by six water molecules in this hydrated salt . In the hexahydrate , the nitrate anions are not bonded to nickel . Also known are three other hydrates : Ni ( NO3 ) 2.9 H2O , Ni ( NO3 ) 2.4 H2O , and Ni ( NO3 ) 2.2 H2O . Anhydrous Ni ( NO3 ) 2 is also known .   It is prepared by the reaction of nickel oxide with nitric acid :  NiO + 2 HNO3 + 5 H2O → Ni ( NO3 ) 2.6 H2O  The anhydrous nickel nitrate is typically not prepared by the heating the hydrates . Rather is generated by reaction of hydrates with dinitrogen pentoxide or of nickel carbonyl with dinitrogen tetroxide :  Ni ( CO ) 4 + 2 N2O4 → Ni ( NO3 ) 2 + 2 NO + 4 CO   The hydrated nitrate is often used as a precursor to supported nickel catalysts .

negative: NIS Nis , Niš , NiS or NIS may refer to :

negative: O (Eiko Shimamiya album) O is the first full-length album from Eiko Shimamiya , it includes the hit single Higurashi no Naku Koro ni ( opening from the same-titled anime ) . A limited edition with a DVD including the music video of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni is available . The album charted for five weeks on the Oricon charts and sold 10,000 copies .

negative: Milluni Peak Milluni Peak , also known as or Pico Milluni ( composed of Spanish pico peak and Aymara milluni , millu light brown , reddish , fair-haired , dark chestnut , - ni suffix to indicate ownership , `` the brown one '' ) , is a mountain in the Andes , about 5,483 m ( 17,989 ft ) high , located in the Cordillera Real of Bolivia in the La Paz Department , Pedro Domingo Murillo Province , El Alto Municipality . It is situated south of Wayna Potosí and northeast of El Alto and La Paz .

negative: 2014–16 El Niño event The 2014 -- 16 El Niño was a warming of the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean that resulted in unusually warm waters developing between the coast of South America and the International Date Line . These unusually warm waters influenced the world 's weather in a number of ways , which in turn significantly affected various parts of the world . These included drought conditions in Venezuela , Australia and a number of Pacific islands while significant flooding was also recorded . During the event more tropical cyclones than normal occurred within the Pacific Ocean , while fewer than normal occurred in the Atlantic Ocean .

negative: Luni Luni and homophones Lo ( o ) ni may refer to :

negative: 2010–12 La Niña event The 2010 -- 12 La Niña event was one of the strongest on record . It caused Australia to experience its wettest September on record in 2010 , and its second-wettest year on record in 2010 . It also led to an unusual intensification of the Leeuwin Current , the 2010 Pakistan floods , the 2010 -- 11 Queensland floods , and the 2011 East Africa drought . It also helped keep the average global temperature below recent trends , leading to 2011 tying with 1997 for the 14th-warmest year on record .

negative: Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei The Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei ( SVT ) , occasionally known in English as Fijian Political Party , was a party which dominated politics in the 1990s and was the mainstay of coalition governments from 1992 to 1999 .

negative: Nickel(II) precatalysts Nickel ( II ) precatalysts are a type of catalyst used in organic reactions . Many transformations are catalyzed by nickel in organometallic chemistry and in organic synthesis . Many of these transformations invoke a low valent ( generally Ni ( 0 ) ) species as the active catalyst . Unfortunately , unlike its counterpart , Pd ( 0 ) , Ni ( 0 ) catalysts are predominantly confined to the glovebox due to their high instability to air and water , with the most common Ni ( 0 ) catalyst being Ni ( cod ) 2 . Additionally , Ni ( cod ) 2 is more expensive than many Ni ( II ) salts and the quality varies significantly amongst suppliers . To make nickel catalysis more accessible and amenable to synthesis and industrial purposes , the use of air-stable Ni ( II ) precursors has emerged as an important development in this area of research . This page describes the more commonly employed nickel ( II ) precatalysts , their synthesis for those not commercially available , and the methods for their reduction to Ni ( 0 ) complexes .

negative: Climate change (general concept) Climate variability includes all the variations in the climate that last longer than individual weather events, whereas the term climate change only refers to those variations that persist for a longer period of time, typically decades or more. In the time since the industrial revolution the climate has increasingly been affected by human activities that are causing global warming and climate change.The climate system receives nearly all of its energy from the sun. The climate system also radiates energy to outer space. The balance of incoming and outgoing energy, and the passage of the energy through the climate system, determines Earth\'s energy budget. When the incoming energy is greater than the outgoing energy, earth\'s energy budget is positive and the climate system is warming. If more energy goes out, the energy budget is negative and earth experiences cooling.\nThe energy moving through Earth\'s climate system finds expression in weather, varying on geographic scales and time. Long-term averages and variability of weather in a region constitute the region\'s climate. Such changes can be the result of "internal variability", when natural processes inherent to the various parts of the climate system alter the distribution of energy. Examples include variability in ocean basins such as the Pacific decadal oscillation and Atlantic multidecadal oscillation. Climate variability can also result from external forcing, when events outside of the climate system\'s components nonetheless produce changes within the system. Examples include changes in solar output and volcanism.\nClimate variability has consequences for sea level changes, plant life, and mass extinctions; it also affects human societies.

negative: Sea surface temperature Sea surface temperature ( SST ) is the water temperature close to the ocean 's surface . The exact meaning of surface varies according to the measurement method used , but it is between 1 mm and 20 m below the sea surface . Air masses in the Earth 's atmosphere are highly modified by sea surface temperatures within a short distance of the shore . Localized areas of heavy snow can form in bands downwind of warm water bodies within an otherwise cold air mass . Warm sea surface temperatures are known to be a cause of tropical cyclogenesis over the Earth 's oceans . Tropical cyclones can also cause a cool wake , due to turbulent mixing of the upper 30 m of the ocean . SST changes diurnally , like the air above it , but to a lesser degree . There is less SST variation on breezy days than on calm days . In addition , ocean currents such as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation ( AMO ) , can effect SST 's on multi-decadal time scales , a major impact results from the global thermohaline circulation , which affects average SST significantly throughout most of the world 's oceans .   Coastal SSTs can cause offshore winds to generate upwelling , which can significantly cool or warm nearby landmasses , but shallower waters over a continental shelf are often warmer . Onshore winds can cause a considerable warm-up even in areas where upwelling is fairly constant , such as the northwest coast of South America . Its values are important within numerical weather prediction as the SST influences the atmosphere above , such as in the formation of sea breezes and sea fog . It is also used to calibrate measurements from weather satellites .

negative: Ni Ni Ni Ni ( born 8 August 1988 ) is a Chinese actress . She rose to fame playing the role of Yu Mo in the 2011 film The Flowers of War , directed by Zhang Yimou . Ni Ni was chosen as the one of the New Four Dan Actresses in 2013 .

negative: Adaptation to global warming in Australia

negative: Sun-Ni law Sun-Ni 's Law ( or Sun and Ni 's Law , also known as memory-bounded speedup ) , is a memory-bounded speedup model which states that as computing power increases the corresponding increase in problem size is constrained by the system 's memory capacity . In general , as a system grows in computational power , the problems run on the system increase in size . Analogous to Amdahl 's law , which says that the problem size remains constant as system sizes grow , and Gustafson 's law , which proposes that the problem size should scale but be bound by a fixed amount of time , Sun-Ni 's Law states the problem size should scale but be bound by the memory capacity of the system . Sun-Ni 's Law was initially proposed by Xian-He Sun and Lionel Ni at the Proceedings of IEEE Supercomputing Conference 1990 .   With the increasing disparity between CPU speed and memory data access latency , application execution time often depends on the memory speed of the system . As predicted by Sun and Ni , data access has become the premier performance bottleneck for high-end computing . From this fact one can see the intuition behind Sun-Ni 's Law , as system resources increase , applications are often bottlenecked by memory speed and bandwidth , thus an application can achieve a larger speedup by utilizing all the memory capacity in the system . Sun-Ni 's Law can be applied to different layers of a memory hierarchy system , from L1 cache to main memory . Through its memory-bounded function , W = G ( M ) , it reveals the trade-off between computing and memory in algorithm and system architecture design .   All three speedup models , Sun-Ni , Gustafson , and Amdahl , provide a metric to analyze speedup for Parallel computing . Amdahl 's law focuses on the time reduction for a given fixed-size problem . Amdahl 's law states that the sequential portion of the problem ( algorithm ) limits the total speedup that can be achieved as system resources increase . Gustafson 's law suggests that it is beneficial to build a large-scale parallel system as the speedup can grow linearly with the system size if the problem size is scaled up to maintain a fixed execution time . Yet as memory access latency often becomes the dominant factor in an application 's execution time , applications may not scale up to meet the time bound constraint . Sun-Ni 's Law , instead of constraining the problem size by time , constrains the problem by the memory capacity of the system , or in other words bounds based on memory . Sun-Ni 's Law is a generalization of Amdahl 's Law and Gustafson 's Law . When the memory-bounded function G ( M ) = 1 , it resolves to Amdahl 's law , when the memory-bounded function G ( M ) = m , the number of processors , it resolves to Gustafson 's Law .


query: Satellite measurements of infrared spectra over the past 40 years observe less energy escaping to space at the wavelengths associated with CO2.

positive: Satellite temperature measurements The temperature of the atmosphere at various altitudes as well as sea and land surface temperatures can be inferred from satellite measurements . These measurements can be used to locate weather fronts , monitor the El Niño-Southern Oscillation , determine the strength of tropical cyclones , study urban heat islands and monitor the global climate . Wildfires , volcanos , and industrial hot spots can also be found via thermal imaging from weather satellites .   Weather satellites do not measure temperature directly . They measure radiances in various wavelength bands . Since 1978 microwave sounding units ( MSUs ) on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration polar orbiting satellites have measured the intensity of upwelling microwave radiation from atmospheric oxygen , which is related to the temperature of broad vertical layers of the atmosphere . Measurements of infrared radiation pertaining to sea surface temperature have been collected since 1967 .   Satellite datasets show that over the past four decades the troposphere has warmed and the stratosphere has cooled . Both of these trends are consistent with the influence of increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases .

positive: European Southern Observatory The European Southern Observatory ( ESO , formally : European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere ; Organisation Européenne pour des Recherches Astronomiques dans l'Hémisphere Austral ) is a 16-nation intergovernmental research organization for ground-based astronomy . Created in 1962 , ESO has provided astronomers with state-of-the-art research facilities and access to the southern sky . The organisation employs about 730 staff members and receives annual member state contributions of approximately $ 131 million . Its observatories are located in northern Chile .   ESO has built and operated some of the largest and most technologically advanced telescopes . These include the New Technology Telescope , an early pioneer in the use of active optics , and the Very Large Telescope ( VLT ) , which consists of four individual telescopes , each with a primary mirror 8.2 metre across , and four smaller auxiliary telescopes . The Atacama Large Millimeter Array observes the universe in the millimetre and submillimetre wavelength ranges , and is the world 's largest ground-based astronomy project to date . It was completed in March 2013 in an international collaboration by Europe ( represented by ESO ) , North America , East Asia and Chile .   Currently under construction is the European Extremely Large Telescope . It will use a 39.3-metre-diameter segmented mirror , and become the world 's largest optical reflecting telescope when operational in 2024 . Its light-gathering power will allow detailed studies of planets around other stars , the first objects in the universe , supermassive black holes , and the nature and distribution of the dark matter and dark energy which dominate the universe .   ESO 's observing facilities have made astronomical discoveries and produced several astronomical catalogues . Its findings include the discovery of the most distant gamma-ray burst and evidence for a black hole at the centre of the Milky Way . In 2004 , the VLT allowed astronomers to obtain the first picture of an extrasolar planet ( 2M1207b ) orbiting a brown dwarf 173 light-years away . The High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher ( HARPS ) instrument installed in another ESO telescope led to the discovery of extrasolar planets , including Gliese 581c -- one of the smallest planets seen outside the solar system .

positive: Infrared Infrared radiation , or simply infrared or IR , is electromagnetic radiation ( EMR ) with longer wavelengths than those of visible light , and is therefore invisible , although it is sometimes loosely called infrared light . It extends from the nominal red edge of the visible spectrum at 700 nanometers ( frequency 430 THz ) , to 1000000 nm ( 300 GHz ) ( although people can see infrared up to at least 1050 nm in experiments ) . Most of the thermal radiation emitted by objects near room temperature is infrared . Like all EMR , IR carries radiant energy , and behaves both like a wave and like its quantum particle , the photon .   Infrared was discovered in 1800 by astronomer Sir William Herschel , who discovered a type of invisible radiation in the spectrum lower in energy than red light , by means of its effect on a thermometer . Slightly more than half of the total energy from the Sun was eventually found to arrive on Earth in the form of infrared . The balance between absorbed and emitted infrared radiation has a critical effect on Earth 's climate .   Infrared radiation is emitted or absorbed by molecules when they change their rotational-vibrational movements . It excites vibrational modes in a molecule through a change in the dipole moment , making it a useful frequency range for study of these energy states for molecules of the proper symmetry . Infrared spectroscopy examines absorption and transmission of photons in the infrared range .   Infrared radiation is used in industrial , scientific , and medical applications . Night-vision devices using active near-infrared illumination allow people or animals to be observed without the observer being detected . Infrared astronomy uses sensor-equipped telescopes to penetrate dusty regions of space such as molecular clouds , detect objects such as planets , and to view highly red-shifted objects from the early days of the universe . Infrared thermal-imaging cameras are used to detect heat loss in insulated systems , to observe changing blood flow in the skin , and to detect overheating of electrical apparatus .   Thermal-infrared imaging is used extensively for military and civilian purposes . Military applications include target acquisition , surveillance , night vision , homing , and tracking . Humans at normal body temperature radiate chiefly at wavelengths around 10 μm ( micrometers ) . Non-military uses include thermal efficiency analysis , environmental monitoring , industrial facility inspections , remote temperature sensing , short-ranged wireless communication , spectroscopy , and weather forecasting .

negative: Stokes line A Stokes line is the radiation of particular wavelengths present in the line spectra associated with fluorescence and the Raman scattering . Stokes lines are of longer wavelength than that of the exciting radiation responsible for the fluorescence or Raman effect . Stokes lines are named after Sir George Gabriel Stokes .   The energy of the scattered radiation is less than the incident radiation for the Stokes line , and the energy of the scattered radiation is more than the incident radiation for the anti-Stokes line . The energy increase or decrease from the excitation is related to the vibrational energy spacing in the ground electronic state of the molecule , and therefore the wavenumber of the Stokes and anti-Stokes lines are a direct measure of the vibrational energies of the molecule . The probability of an anti-Stokes transition is much less than that of a Stokes transition , since at room temperature the majority of molecules present are in the lowest vibrational level .

negative: Far-infrared astronomy Far-infrared astronomy is the branch of astronomy and astrophysics that deals with objects visible in far-infrared radiation ( extending from 30 µm towards submillimeter wavelengths around 450 µm ) .   In the far-infrared , stars are not especially bright , but we can see emission from very cold matter ( 140 Kelvins or less ) that is not seen at shorter wavelengths .   Huge , cold clouds of gas and dust in our own galaxy , as well as in nearby galaxies , glow in far-infrared light . This is due to thermal radiation of interstellar dust contained in molecular clouds .  In some of these clouds , new stars are just beginning to form . Far-infrared observations can detect these protostars long before they `` turn on '' visibly by sensing the heat they radiate as they contract .   The center of our galaxy also shines brightly in the far-infrared : These emissions are from dust in circumstellar shells around numerous old red giant stars . These stars heat up the dust and cause it to glow brightly in the infrared . The Bolocam Galactic Plane Survey mapped the galaxy for the first time in the far-infrared .   Except for the plane of our own galaxy , the brightest far-infrared object in the sky is central region of a galaxy called Messier 82 . The nucleus of M82 radiates as much energy in the far-infrared as all of the stars in our galaxy combined . This far-infrared energy comes from dust heated by a source that is hidden from view . The central regions of most galaxies shine very brightly in the far-infrared . Many galaxies ( `` active galaxies '' ) have active nuclei hidden in dense regions of dust . Others , called starburst galaxies , have an extremely high number of newly forming stars heating interstellar dust clouds . These galaxies , far outshine all others galaxies in the far-infrared .   The Earth 's atmosphere is opaque over most of the far-infrared , so that ground-based observations are limited to submillimetre wavelengths using high-altitude telescopes such as the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope , the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory , and the Submillimeter Array . Most far-infrared astronomy is performed by satellites such as the Herschel Space Observatory , Spitzer , IRAS , and ISO . Upper-atmosphere observations are also possible , as conducted by the airborne SOFIA telescope .   On 22 January 2014 , ESA scientists reported the detection , for the first definitive time , of water vapor on the dwarf planet , Ceres , largest object in the asteroid belt . The detection was made by using the far-infrared abilities of the Herschel Space Observatory . The finding is unexpected because comets , not asteroids , are typically considered to `` sprout jets and plumes '' . According to one of the scientists , `` The lines are becoming more and more blurred between comets and asteroids . ''

negative: Welsbach seeding Welsbach seeding is a proposed climate engineering method , involving seeding the stratosphere with small ( 10 to 100 micron ) metal oxide particles ( thorium dioxide , Aluminium oxide ) . The purpose of the Welsbach seeding would be to '' ( reduce ) atmospheric warming due to the greenhouse effect resulting from a greenhouse gases layer '' , by converting radiative energy at near-infrared wavelengths into radiation at far-infrared wavelengths , permitting some of the converted radiation to escape into space , thus cooling the atmosphere . The seeding as described would be performed by airplanes at altitudes between 7 and 13 kilometres .

negative: Micro-spectrophotometry Microspectrophotometry is the measure of the spectra of microscopic samples using different wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation ( e.g. ultraviolet , visible and near infrared , etc. ) It is accomplished with microspectrophotometers , cytospectrophotometers , microfluorometers , Raman microspectrophotometers , etc. . A microspectrophotometer can be configured to measure transmittance , absorbance , reflectance , light polarization , fluorescence ( or other types of luminescence such as photoluminescence ) of sample areas less than a micrometer in diameter through a modified optical microscope .

negative: Astronomical Netherlands Satellite The Astronomical Netherlands Satellite ( ANS ; also known as Astronomische Nederlandse Satelliet ) was a space-based X-ray and ultraviolet telescope . It was launched into Earth orbit on 30 August 1974 at 14:07:39 UTC in a Scout rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base , United States . The mission ran for 20 months until June 1976 , and was jointly funded by the Netherlands Institute for Space Research ( NIVR ) and NASA . ANS was the first Dutch satellite , and the Main Belt asteroid 9996 ANS was named after it .   The telescope had an initial orbit of with a periapsis of 266 km , an apoapsis of 1176 km , with inclination 98.0 ° and eccentricity 0.064048 , giving it a period of 99.2 minutes . The orbit was sun-synchronous , and the attitude of the spacecraft could be controlled through reaction wheels . The momentum stored in the reaction wheels throughout the orbit was regularly dumped via magnetic coils that interacted with the Earth 's magnetic field . The satellite also had two masses that were released shortly after orbit injection , to remove most of the satellite 's angular momentum induced by the launcher . The attitude could be measured by a variety of techniques , including solar sensors , horizon sensors , star sensors and a magnetometer .   ANS could measure X-ray photons in the energy range 2 to 30 keV , with a 60 cm2 detector , and was used to find the positions of galactic and extragalactic X-ray sources . It also measured their spectra , and looked at their variations over time . It discovered X-ray bursts , and also detected X-rays from Capella .   ANS also observed in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum , with a 22 cm ( 260 cm2 ) Cassegrain telescope . The wavelengths of the observed photons were between 150 and 330 nm , with the detector split into five channels with central wavelengths of 155 , 180 , 220 , 250 and 330 nm . At these frequencies it took over 18,000 measurements of around 400 objects .

negative: Infrared Science Archive The Infrared Science Archive ( IRSA ) curates the science products of NASA 's infrared and submillimeter projects , such as the Spitzer Space Telescope , the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer ( WISE ) , the Infrared Astronomical Satellite ( IRAS ) , and the Two Micron All-Sky Survey ( 2MASS ) . IRSA also serves data from infrared and submillimeter European Space Agency missions with NASA participation , including the Infrared Space Observatory ( ISO ) , Planck , and the Herschel Space Observatory . , IRSA provides access to more than 20 billion astronomical measurements , including all-sky coverage in 20 bands , spanning wavelengths from 1 micron to 10 millimeters . Approximately 10 % of all refereed astronomical journal articles cite data sets curated by IRSA .   IRSA is part of the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center ( IPAC ) and is located on the campus of the California Institute of Technology . It is one of NASA 's Astrophysics Data Centers , along with the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center ( HEASARC ) and the Barbara A. Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes ( MAST ) .

negative: Molecular physics Molecular physics is the study of the physical properties of molecules , the chemical bonds between atoms as well as the molecular dynamics . Its most important experimental techniques are the various types of spectroscopy ; scattering is also used . The field is closely related to atomic physics and overlaps greatly with theoretical chemistry , physical chemistry and chemical physics .   In addition to the electronic excitation states which are known from atoms , molecules exhibit rotational and vibrational modes whose energy levels are quantized . The smallest energy differences exist between different rotational states : pure rotational spectra are in the far infrared region ( about 30 - 150 µm wavelength ) of the electromagnetic spectrum . Vibrational spectra are in the near infrared ( about 1 - 5 µm ) and spectra resulting from electronic transitions are mostly in the visible and ultraviolet regions . From measuring rotational and vibrational spectra properties of molecules like the distance between the nuclei can be specifically calculated .   One important aspect of molecular physics is that the essential atomic orbital theory in the field of atomic physics expands to the molecular orbital theory .

negative: NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) The NIRSpec ( Near-Infrared Spectrograph ) is one of the four scientific instruments which will be flown on the James Webb Space Telescope ( JWST ) . The JWST is the follow-on mission to the Hubble Space Telescope ( HST ) and is developed to receive more information about the origins of the universe by observing infrared light from the first stars and galaxies . In comparison to HST , its instruments will allow looking further back in time and will study the so-called Dark Ages during which the universe was opaque , about 150 to 800 million years after the Big Bang .   The NIRSpec instrument is a multi-object spectrograph and is capable of simultaneously measuring the near-infrared spectrum of up to 100 objects like stars or galaxies with low , medium and high spectral resolutions . The observations are performed in a 3 arcmin × 3 arcmin field of view over the wavelength range from 0.6 µm to 5.0 µm . It also features a set of slits and an aperture for high contrast spectroscopy of individual sources , as well as an integral-field unit ( IFU ) for 3D spectroscopy .  The instrument is a contribution of the European Space Agency ( ESA ) and is built by Astrium together with a group of European subcontractors .

negative: MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) MIRI , or Mid-Infrared Instrument , is an instrument on the planned James Webb Space Telescope . MIRI is a camera and a spectrograph that observes mid infrared radiation from 5 microns to 28 microns . It also has coronagraphs , especially for observing exoplanets .   Whereas most of the other instruments on Webb can see from the start of Near-infrared , or even as short as orange visible light , MIRI can see longer wavelength light where the other instruments leave off . MIRI uses silicon arrays doped with Arsenic to make observations at these wavelengths . The imager is designed for wide views but the spectrograph has a smaller view . Because it views the longer wavelengths it needs to be cooler than the other instruments ( see Infrared astronomy ) , and it has an additional cooling system . The cooling system for MIRI includes a Pulse Tube precooler and a Joule-Thomson Loop heat exchanger . This allows MIRI to be cooled down to 7 kelvin during operations in space .

negative: Far infrared Far infrared ( FIR ) is a region in the infrared spectrum of electromagnetic radiation . Far infrared is often defined as any radiation with a wavelength of 15 micrometers ( µm ) to 1 mm ( corresponding to a range of about 20 THz to 300 GHz ) , which places far infrared radiation within the CIE IR-B and IR-C bands . Different sources use different boundaries for the far infrared spectrum ; for example , astronomers sometimes define far infrared as wavelengths between 25 µm and 350 µm .   Visible light includes radiation with wavelengths between 400 nm and 700 nm , meaning that far infrared photons have less energy than visible light photons .

negative: Mars aircraft A Mars aircraft is a vehicle for flying in the atmosphere of Mars . So far , Mars lander entry , descent , and landing systems have passed through the atmosphere . Aircraft may provide in situ measurements of the atmosphere of Mars , as well as additional observations over extended areas . A long-term goal is to develop piloted Mars aircraft .   Compared to Earth , the air is thinner at the surface ( less than 1 % ) but the gravity is lower ( less than 40 % ) . Also , the major component of Mars air , CO2 gas , is denser than Earth air for a given pressure .

negative: Quantum efficiency The term quantum efficiency ( QE ) may apply to incident photon to converted electron ( IPCE ) ratio , of a photosensitive device or it may refer to the TMR effect of a Magnetic Tunnel Junction .   This article deals with the term as a measurement of a device 's electrical sensitivity to light . In a charge-coupled device ( CCD ) it is the percentage of photons hitting the device 's photoreactive surface that produce charge carriers . It is measured in electrons per photon or amps per watt . Since the energy of a photon is inversely proportional to its wavelength , QE is often measured over a range of different wavelengths to characterize a device 's efficiency at each photon energy level . The QE for photons with energy below the band gap is zero . Photographic film typically has a QE of much less than 10 % , while CCDs can have a QE of well over 90 % at some wavelengths .

negative: Gould Belt Survey The Gould Belt Survey is an astronomical research project led by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics , with the participation of several other institutions .   The astronomers use observations and data captured by the Spitzer Space Telescope and other telescopes to create a complete picture of the star forming regions within an approximately 1600 lightyear radius centered on the Solar System . These regions are partly or completely clouded by interstellar dust and therefore can not be observed by telescopes using visible light , like the Hubble Space Telescope .   The Gould Belt survey team uses a variety of telescopes and observatories to study multiple aspects of star formation . The Spitzer Space Telescope provides imagery and observations made in the infrared spectrum , while for example the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope provides images from the submillimeter wavelength region of the spectrum .   The Herschel Space Observatory telescope provided observation data between the far infrared and the sub-millimeter wavelengths , effectively covering wavelengths between the observational capabilities of the Spitzer and the Maxwell telescopes .

negative: Ultraviolet astronomy Ultraviolet astronomy is the observation of electromagnetic radiation at ultraviolet wavelengths between approximately 10 and 320 nanometres ; shorter wavelengths -- higher energy photons -- are studied by X-ray astronomy and gamma ray astronomy . An ultraviolet light is not visible to the human eye . Light at these wavelengths is absorbed by the Earth 's atmosphere , so observations at these wavelengths must be performed from the upper atmosphere or from space .

negative: Infrared cirrus Infrared cirrus are filamentary structures seen in infrared light . The name is given because the structures are cloud-like in appearance . These structures were first detected by the Infrared Astronomy Satellite at wavelengths of 60 and 100 micrometres .

negative: Luminous infrared galaxy Luminous Infrared Galaxies or ( LIRGs ) are galaxies with luminosities , the measurement of brightness , above . LIRGs are more abundant than starburst galaxies , Seyfert galaxies and quasi-stellar objects at comparable luminosity . Infrared galaxies emit more energy in the infrared than at all other wavelengths combined . A LIRG 's luminosity is 100 billion times that of our sun .   Galaxies with luminosities above , are Ultra-Luminous Infrared Galaxies ( ULIRGs ) . Many of the LIRGs and ULIRGs are showing interactions and disruptions . Many of these types of galaxies spawn about 100 new stars a year as compared to ours which spawn one a year ; this creates the high level of luminosity .   More luminous than ULIRGs are the Hyper-Luminous Infrared Galaxies , HLIRG .   The most luminous class are the Extremely Luminous Infrared Galaxies , ELIRG .

negative: Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer ( WISE ) is a NASA infrared-wavelength astronomical space telescope launched in December 2009 , and placed in hibernation in February 2011 when its transmitter turned off . It was re-activated in 2013 . WISE discovered thousands of minor planets and numerous star clusters . Its observations also supported the discovery of the first Y Dwarf and Earth trojan asteroid .   WISE performed an all-sky astronomical survey with images in 3.4 , 4.6 , 12 and 22 μm wavelength range bands , over ten months using a 40 cm diameter infrared telescope in Earth orbit . After its hydrogen coolant depleted , a four-month mission extension called NEOWISE was conducted to search for near-Earth objects such as comets and asteroids using its remaining capability .   The All-Sky data including processed images , source catalogs and raw data , was released to the public on March 14 , 2012 , and is available at the Infrared Science Archive . In August 2013 , NASA announced it would reactivate the WISE telescope for a new three-year mission to search for asteroids that could collide with Earth . Science operations and data processing for WISE and NEOWISE take place at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena .

negative: Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey The Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey ( SINGS ) was a survey of 75 galaxies using the Spitzer Space Telescope , carried out between 2003 and 2006 .   One of the telescope 's six Legacy Science Projects , SINGS collected a comprehensive set of spectroscopic data in the infrared region , which , in conjunction with measurements at other wavelengths , was intended to provide insights into star formation and other processes occurring within these galaxies .

negative: MOS-1 (satellite) Marine Observation Satellite 1 ( MOS-1 ) , also known as Momo-1 , was Japan 's first Earth observation satellite . It was launched on 19 February 1987 on a N-II rocket from Tanegashima Space Center and was operated by the National Space Development Agency of Japan .   It has three instruments : `` Multi-Spectral Electronic Self-Scanning Radiometer ( MESSR ) '' which offers 50m resolution in two visible and two infra-red spectral bands over two 100 km swathes ; `` Visible and Thermal Infrared Radiometer ( VTIR ) '' which has a much lower resolution in one visible and three IR bands over a 1500 km swathe ; `` Micro Scanning Radiometer ( MSR ) '' which measures microwave emission in the 23 GHz and 31 GHz bands .   Its NORAD ID is 17527 ; it is in a polar orbit at roughly 900 km altitude , but has not been active since November 1995 .

negative: Arctic Satellite Composite Project The Arctic Satellite Composite Project , a grant funded by the Arctic Sciences division of the National Science Foundation ( NSF ) , is a project dedicated to developing satellite composite images , of various wavelengths , over the Arctic polar region of the globe . The project , based out of the Space Science and Engineering Center ( SSEC ) at the University of Wisconsin , is headed by Principal Investigator ( PI ) Dr. Matthew Lazzara , with assistance from co-PI Shelley Knuth .   Since the project 's inception in 2007 , composite images in the infrared , water vapor , short-wave , and long-wave wavelengths have been generated over the region . The images are produced every three hours , on the synoptic hour . To generate the composite images , swaths of satellite images from geo-stationary and polar-orbiting satellites are collected within + / - 50 minutes of the top of the hour , and `` spliced '' together to form one image of the entire region . The images are centered at the North Pole , and extend as far south as 45 ° . The images have a resolution of 5 km .   The Arctic satellite composites have already been used in their earliest form to support studies of Arctic pollution . They have been used operationally to support the polar study using aircraft , remote sensing , surface measurements and models of climate , chemistry , aerosols and transport ( POLARCAT ) , and Arctic research of the composition of the troposphere from aircraft and satellites ( ARCTAS ) campaigns during the International Polar Year .   Future work on the generation of the satellite composite imagery will include visible composite generation as well as hourly composite generation . It is anticipated this work will be completed in 2010 .

negative: Laser Direct Infrared (LDIR) Imaging Laser Direct Infrared ( LDIR ) Imaging is an infrared microscopy architecture that utilizes a tunable Quantum Cascade Laser ( QCL ) as the IR source . This new reflectance-based architecture eliminates coherence artifacts typically associated with QCLs . It also allows the acquisition of large-area , high-definition IR images as well as high signal-to-noise point spectra . Extending this architecture using Attenuated Total Reflectance ( ATR ) allows the acquisition of high fidelity spectra from features less than 10 μm in size .   The application of LDIR to stain-free biochemical imaging has recently been reported , with the authors citing the speed of LDIR imaging as an advantage over traditional IR imaging architectures .

negative: Infrared heater An infrared heater or heat lamp is a body with a higher temperature which transfers energy to a body with a lower temperature through electromagnetic radiation . Depending on the temperature of the emitting body , the wavelength of the peak of the infrared radiation ranges from to 1 mm . No contact or medium between the two bodies is needed for the energy transfer . Infrared heaters can be operated in vacuum or atmosphere .   One classification of infrared heaters is by the wavelength bands of infrared emission .   Short wave or near infrared for the range from to , these emitters are also named bright because still some visible light is emitted ;  Medium infrared for the range between and ;  Far infrared or dark emitters for everything above .

negative: Great Observatories program NASA 's series of Great Observatories satellites are four large , powerful space-based astronomical telescopes . Each of the four missions was designed to examine a specific wavelength/energy region of the electromagnetic spectrum ( gamma rays , X-rays , visible and ultraviolet light , infrared light ) using very different technologies . Dr. Charles Pellerin , NASA 's Director , Astrophysics invented and developed the program . The four Great Observatories were launched between 1990 and 2003 , and three remain operational as of 2017 .

negative: A1689-zD1 A1689-zD1 is a galaxy in the Virgo constellation cluster . It was a candidate for the most distant and therefore earliest observed galaxy discovered , based on a photometric redshift .   If the redshift , z ~ 7.6 , is correct , it would explain why the galaxy 's faint light reaches us at infrared wavelengths . It could only be observed with Hubble Space Telescope 's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer ( NICMOS ) and the Spitzer Space Telescope 's Infrared Array Camera exploiting the natural phenomenon of gravitational lensing : the galaxy cluster Abell 1689 , which lies between Earth and A1689-zD1 , at a distance of 2.2 billion light-years from us , functions as a natural `` magnifying glass '' for the light from the far more distant galaxy which lies directly behind it , at 700 million years after the Big Bang , as seen from Earth .

negative: Staring array A staring array , staring-plane array , focal-plane array ( FPA ) , or focal-plane is an image sensing device consisting of an array ( typically rectangular ) of light-sensing pixels at the focal plane of a lens . FPAs are used most commonly for imaging purposes ( e.g. taking pictures or video imagery ) , but can also be used for non-imaging purposes such as spectrometry , lidar , and wave-front sensing .   In radio astronomy , the focal-plane array ( FPA ) is an array at the focus of a radio telescope . At optical and infrared wavelengths it can refer to a variety of imaging device types , but in common usage it refers to two-dimensional devices that are sensitive in the infrared spectrum . Devices sensitive in other spectra are usually referred to by other terms , such as CCD ( charge-coupled device ) and CMOS image sensor in the visible spectrum . FPAs operate by detecting photons at particular wavelengths and then generating an electrical charge , voltage , or resistance in relation to the number of photons detected at each pixel . This charge , voltage , or resistance is then measured , digitized , and used to construct an image of the object , scene , or phenomenon that emitted the photons .   Applications for infrared FPAs include missile or related weapons guidance sensors , infrared astronomy , manufacturing inspection , thermal imaging for firefighting , medical imaging , and infrared phenomenology ( such as observing combustion , weapon impact , rocket motor ignition and other events that are interesting in the infrared spectrum ) .

negative: Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope ( WFIRST ) is a future infrared space observatory that was recommended in 2010 by United States National Research Council Decadal Survey committee as the top priority for the next decade of astronomy . On February 17 , 2016 , WFIRST was formally designated as a mission by NASA .   WFIRST is based on an existing 2.4 m wide field-of-view telescope and will carry two scientific instruments . The Wide-Field Instrument is a 288-megapixel multi-band near-infrared camera , providing a sharpness of images comparable to that achieved by the Hubble Space Telescope over 100 times the area . The Coronagraphic Instrument is a high contrast small field of view camera and spectrometer covering visible and near-infrared wavelengths using novel starlight-suppression technology .   The design of WFIRST is based on one of the proposed designs for the Joint Dark Energy Mission between NASA and DOE . WFIRST adds some extra capabilities to the original JDEM proposal , including a search for extra-solar planets using gravitational microlensing . In its present incarnation ( 2015 ) , a large fraction of its primary mission will be focused on probing the expansion history of the Universe and the growth of cosmic structure with multiple methods in overlapping redshift ranges , with the goal of precisely measuring the effects of dark energy , the consistency of General Relativity , and the curvature of spacetime .

negative: X-ray filter An X-ray filter is a material placed in front of an X-ray source in order to reduce the intensity of particular wavelengths from its spectrum and selectively alter the distribution of X-ray wavelengths within a given beam .   When X-rays hit matter , part of the incoming beam is transmitted through the material and part of it is absorbed by the material . The amount absorbed is dependent on the material 's mass absorption coefficient and tends to decrease for incident photons of greater energy . True absorption occurs when X-rays of sufficient energy cause electron energy level transitions in the atoms of the absorbing material . The energy from these X-rays are used to excite the atoms and do not continue past the material ( thus being `` filtered '' out ) . Because of this , despite the general trend of decreased absorption at higher energy wavelengths , there are periodic spikes in the absorption characteristics of any given material corresponding to each of the atomic energy level transitions . These spikes are called absorption edges . The result is that every material preferentially filters out x-rays corresponding to and slightly above their electron energy levels , while generally allowing X-rays with energies slightly less than these levels to transmit through relatively unscathed .   Therefore , it is possible to selectively fine tune which wavelengths of x-rays are present in a beam by matching materials with particular absorption characteristics to different X-ray source spectra .

negative: Spectrofluorometer A spectrofluorometer is an instrument which takes advantage of fluorescent properties of some compounds in order to provide information regarding their concentration and chemical environment in a sample . A certain excitation wavelength is selected , and the emission is observed either at a single wavelength , or a scan is performed to record the intensity versus wavelength , also called an emission spectra . See Fluorescence spectroscopy

negative: Optical spectrometer An optical spectrometer ( spectrophotometer , spectrograph or spectroscope ) is an instrument used to measure properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum , typically used in spectroscopic analysis to identify materials . The variable measured is most often the light 's intensity but could also , for instance , be the polarization state . The independent variable is usually the wavelength of the light or a unit directly proportional to the photon energy , such as reciprocal centimeters or electron volts , which has a reciprocal relationship to wavelength .   A spectrometer is used in spectroscopy for producing spectral lines and measuring their wavelengths and intensities . Spectrometers may also operate over a wide range of non-optical wavelengths , from gamma rays and X-rays into the far infrared . If the instrument is designed to measure the spectrum in absolute units rather than relative units , then it is typically called a spectrophotometer . The majority of spectrophotometers are used in spectral regions near the visible spectrum .   In general , any particular instrument will operate over a small portion of this total range because of the different techniques used to measure different portions of the spectrum . Below optical frequencies ( that is , at microwave and radio frequencies ) , the spectrum analyzer is a closely related electronic device .   Spectrometers are used in many fields . For example , they are used in astronomy to analyze the radiation from astronomical objects and deduce chemical composition . The spectrometer uses a prism or a grating to spread the light from a distant object into a spectrum . This allows astronomers to detect many of the chemical elements by their characteristic spectral fingerprints . If the object is glowing by itself , it will show spectral lines caused by the glowing gas itself . These lines are named for the elements which cause them , such as the hydrogen alpha , beta , and gamma lines . Chemical compounds may also be identified by absorption . Typically these are dark bands in specific locations in the spectrum caused by energy being absorbed as light from other objects passes through a gas cloud . Much of our knowledge of the chemical makeup of the universe comes from spectra .

negative: Gamma-ray spectrometer A gamma-ray spectrometer ( GRS ) is an instrument for measuring the distribution ( or spectrum -- see figure ) of the intensity of gamma radiation versus the energy of each photon .  The study and analysis of gamma-ray spectra for scientific and technical use is called gamma spectroscopy , and gamma-ray spectrometers are the instruments which observe and collect such data .  Because the energy of each photon of EM radiation is proportional to its frequency , gamma rays have sufficient energy that they are typically observed by counting individual photons .

negative: Infrared atmospheric sounding interferometer The infrared atmospheric sounding interferometer ( IASI ) is a Fourier transform spectrometer based on the Michelson interferometer , associated with an integrated imaging system ( IIS ) .   As part of the payload of the MetOp series of polar-orbiting meteorological satellites , there are currently two IASI instruments in operation : on MetOp-A ( launched 19 October 2006 ) and on Met-Op B ( launched 17 September 2012 ) with the third due for launch in 2018 .   IASI is a nadir-viewing instrument recording infrared emission spectra from 645 to 2760 cm − 1 at 0.25 cm − 1 resolution ( 0.5 cm − 1 after apodisation ) . Although primarily intended to provide information in near real-time on atmospheric temperature and water vapour to support weather forecasting , the concentrations of various trace gases can also be retrieved from the spectra .

negative: Clementine (spacecraft) Clementine ( officially called the Deep Space Program Science Experiment ( DSPSE ) ) was a joint space project between the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization ( BMDO , previously the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization , or SDIO ) and NASA . Launched on January 25 , 1994 , the objective of the mission was to test sensors and spacecraft components under extended exposure to the space environment and to make scientific observations of the Moon and the near-Earth asteroid 1620 Geographos . The Geographos observations were not made due to a malfunction in the spacecraft .   The lunar observations made included imaging at various wavelengths in the visible as well as in ultraviolet and infrared , laser ranging altimetry , gravimetry , and charged particle measurements . These observations were for the purposes of obtaining multi-spectral imaging of the entire lunar surface , assessing the surface mineralogy of the Moon , obtaining altimetry from 60N to 60S latitude , and obtaining gravity data for the near side . There were also plans to image and determine the size , shape , rotational characteristics , surface properties , and cratering statistics of Geographos .   Clementine carried seven distinct experiments on-board : a UV/Visible Camera , a Near Infrared Camera , a Long Wavelength Infrared Camera , a High Resolution Camera , two Star Tracker Cameras , a Laser Altimeter , and a Charged Particle Telescope . The S-band transponder was used for communications , tracking , and the gravimetry experiment . The project was named Clementine after the song `` Oh My Darling , Clementine '' as the spacecraft would be `` lost and gone forever '' following its mission .