submillimeter
- noun
- /ˌsʌbmɪlɪˈmiːtər/
- Specialized
- Several submillimeter observatories are also starting to use multi-horn feeds.
- submillimeter band
- submillimeter telescope
- submillimeter range
Examples
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The Submillimeter Telescope on Mount Graham, Ariz., has the best surface quality of any telescope in its class.
Academic text (1996) -
Radio astronomers have detected a host of molecules in molecular clouds, especially at the shorter (submillimeter and millimeter) wavelengths.
Academic text (1996) -
The net result is that the air above the South Pole is transparent most of the time in important areas of the submillimeter band.
Academic text (1993) -
This is the most troublesome in the submillimeter range.
Academic text (1993) -
Scattering from grains is unimportant in the submillimeter band.
Academic text (1999) -
The primary interstellar effect that is important in submillimeter bands is absorption within molecular spectral lines, of which there are many.
Academic text (1999) -
To mount large infrared, submillimeter, and millimeter telescopes in such a hostile region and service their complex and sensitive detectors requires a new level of effort.
Academic text (1993) -
Observations of these submillimeter emission lines, which cannot be reliably observed from other ground-based sites, are important because of what they tell us about the interstellar medium.
Academic text (1993) -
The region of the electromagnetic spectrum from the near infrared (about one thousandth of a millimeter wavelength, or one micron), through the submillimeter range, and out to a few millimeters is of fundamental interest to astronomers.
Academic text (1993) -
Astronomers study distant galaxies by observing emissions in the submillimeter part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
How Short
- Specialized
- Specialized
- Specialized
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
submillimeter = millimeter (transparent) = sub + milli + meter
The noun use is a specialized but still compositional label for wavelengths below one millimeter.
Etymology
Submillimeter as a part of the light spectrum comes from sub- 'under' and millimeter, made of milli- 'one thousandth' and meter 'measure'. So, submillimeter literally means 'below one millimeter' in wavelength, which is why astronomers use the submillimeter band to study cold dust in space.