Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A flow chart describing the relationship of various physical quantities, including radiant flux and exitance. In radiometry, radiant flux or radiant power is the radiant energy emitted, reflected, transmitted, or received per unit time, and spectral flux or spectral power is the radiant flux per unit frequency or wavelength, depending on whether the spectrum is taken as a function of frequency ...
Radiant energy emitted, reflected, transmitted or received, per unit time. This is sometimes also called "radiant power", and called luminosity in Astronomy. Spectral flux: Φ e,ν [nb 3] watt per hertz: W/Hz: M⋅L 2 ⋅T −2: Radiant flux per unit frequency or wavelength. The latter is commonly measured in W⋅nm −1. Φ e,λ [nb 4] watt ...
In geophysics, shortwave flux is a result of specular and diffuse reflection of incident shortwave radiation by the underlying surface. [3] This shortwave radiation, as solar radiation, can have a profound impact on certain biophysical processes of vegetation, such as canopy photosynthesis and land surface energy budgets, by being absorbed into the soil and canopies. [4]
The relative spectral flux density is also useful if we wish to compare a source's flux density at one wavelength with the same source's flux density at another wavelength; for example, if we wish to demonstrate how the Sun's spectrum peaks in the visible part of the EM spectrum, a graph of the Sun's relative spectral flux density will suffice.
The flux to which the jansky refers can be in any form of radiant energy. It was created for and is still most frequently used in reference to electromagnetic energy, especially in the context of radio astronomy. The brightest astronomical radio sources have flux densities of the order of 1–100
The monochromatic AB magnitude is defined as the logarithm of a spectral flux density with the usual scaling of astronomical magnitudes and a zero-point of about 3 631 janskys (symbol Jy), [1] where 1 Jy = 10 −26 W Hz −1 m −2 = 10 −23 erg s −1 Hz −1 cm −2 ("about" because the true definition of the zero point is based on magnitudes as shown below).
Astronomers use the term "flux" for what is often called "intensity" in physics, in order to avoid confusion with the specific intensity. Using this formula, the magnitude scale can be extended beyond the ancient magnitude 1–6 range, and it becomes a precise measure of brightness rather than simply a classification system.
In astronomy, this amount is equal to one solar luminosity, represented by the symbol L ⊙. A star with four times the radiative power of the Sun has a luminosity of 4 L ⊙. Luminosity is an absolute measure of radiated electromagnetic energy per unit time, and is synonymous with the radiant power emitted by a light-emitting object.