Brightness temperature

Global Average Brightness Temperature for April 2003
Brightnesss temperatures of the world in April 2003, captured by NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder

Brightness temperature or radiance temperature is a measure of the intensity of electromagnetic energy coming from a source. In particular, it is the temperature at which a black body would have to be in order to duplicate the observed intensity of a grey body object at a frequency . This concept is used in radio astronomy, planetary science, materials science and climatology.

The brightness temperature provides "a more physically recognizable way to describe intensity".

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