On Fri, 31 Aug 2007 08:01:21 -0700, laura halliday
wrote:

Can't say I agree with that; CCDs count photons, which makes
them a lot closer to bolometers than diodes.

That's an interesting observation. In the submillimeter domain we are
just entering the (high) range of EM frequencies where our instruments
detect quanta. Below that they are wave detectors. I don't think we have
any technology that allows us to detect photons in the radio band, for
instance.


The other issue, of course, is just what difference it makes.

In terms of astronomy, it makes no difference at all. It is interesting
in terms of language, however.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com