Determining the Best Wavelength for Darwin's Space Mission

[wyse]

here's the question:

'Darwin is a proposed space mission to detect thermal radiation from Earth-like
planets.
Estimate the best wavelength for carrying out observations with Darwin.'

i'm guessing we need to use wien's law(from an earlier part of the question), and so we need the absolute temp in kelvin to calculate the wavelength. but the problem is i thought T=-273, so putting this into wien's law gives a negative wavlength.

can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong.

thanks in advance

 

[tiny-tim]

Welcome to PF!

Hi wyse! Welcome to PF!

T is the temperature of the Earth-like planet, ie the temperature Celsius plus 273

 

[jtbell]

we need the absolute temp in kelvin to calculate the wavelength. but the problem is i thought T=-273,

Since when can an absolute temperature be negative?

 

[wyse]

thanks for the replies, i don't know where i got the negative from.

cheers!