Radio Continuum Surveys Of The Sky

Radio continuum surveys give us the fundamental information about the distribution of the radio intensity across the sky. The radio waves originate in three fundamental emitting processes and are measured superposed in the antenna beam. At the lowest radio frequencies (below 10 GHz) the nonthermal emission process (synchrotron radiation) predominates. This radio emission comes from supernova remnants, from the “galactic background” (relativistic electrons diffusing in galactic magnetic fields), but also from extragalactic objects (galaxies, quasars, radio galaxies, etc.). In the frequency range 10 GHz < f < 300 GHz the thermal (free-free) process becomes dominant. In the Galaxy we see the HII regions along the galactic plane. In nearby galaxies we can identify the thermal emission in the disks. Above 300 GHz the dust is seen. This is the boundary region between radio and far-infrared radiation.