3 ms·
> This heavily obscured quasar with a bolometric luminosity of ~5 × 10^45 erg s−1 Aka ~5 × 10^38 W. Why do astronomers use ergs?
by twic 3y ago
> This heavily obscured quasar with a bolometric luminosity of ~5 × 10^45 erg s−1
Aka ~5 × 10^38 W. Why do astronomers use ergs?
- oh_sigh 3y agoPartly because it was the standard when huge advances were being made in astrophysics in the late 19th/early 20th C. Partly, because some formulae are more convenient to use in cgs than in SI, because cgs is not rationalized and SI is.