Description: 光学天文学主要研究和观测宇宙（恒星、行星、矮行星、小行星等）辐射的近红外线、可见光和紫外线。将这三种电磁辐射放在一起的原因是，天文学家最初为观测来自天体的可见光而建造的带有玻璃镜片和/或金属镜面的光学望远镜，同样也适用于观测近红外线或紫外线。此外，地球大气层不仅对可见光是透明的，而且对直接相邻的红外线和紫外线区域也是透明的，因此可以从地面同时对这三种辐射进行观测。最后，天文学家用于可见光观测的相机芯片也同时能探测到近红外线和紫外线。综上所述，天文学家用于观测可见光的望远镜和仪器同样适用于近红外和紫外线观测。因此，天文学家们用一个术语，即 "光学天文学"，来统称对电磁波谱这一范围的观测。形容词 "光学 "也用于描述光谱范围，如 "光谱的光学部分"。在这一范围内的观测就是 "光学观测"。

Related Terms:

• 可见光谱
• 透镜
• 反射镜

Term and definition status: The original definition of this term in English have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher
The translation of this term and its definition is still awaiting approval

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