GALEX
The Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) is an orbiting ultraviolet space telescope launched on April 28, 2003. A Pegasus rocket placed the craft into a nearly circular orbit at an altitude of 697 kilometres (433 mi) and an inclination to the Earth's equator of 29 degrees.
The first observation was dedicated to the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia and images the sky in the constellation Hercules, taken on May 21, 2003. This region was selected because it had been directly overhead the shuttle at the time of its last contact with the NASA Mission Control Center.
Science mission
During its 29-month mission, which was extended, it will make observations in ultraviolet wavelengths to measure the history of star formation in the universe 80 percent of the way back to the Big Bang. Since scientists believe the Universe to be about 13.7 billion years old, the mission will study galaxies and stars across about 10 billion years of cosmic history.
The spacecraft's mission is to observe hundreds of thousands of galaxies, with the goal of determining the distance of each galaxy from Earth and the rate of star formation in each galaxy. Near- and far-UV emissions as measured by GALEX can indicate the presence of young stars, but may also originate from old stellar populations (e.g. sdB stars).
Partnering with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) on the mission are the California Institute of Technology, Orbital Sciences Corporation, University of California, Berkeley, Yonsei University, Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, and Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, France.
Gallery
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GALEX at the pre-launch tests
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An image of Mira's bow shock and tail of hydrogen gas. |
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See also
References
External links
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Italics indicate probes that failed to deploy or otherwise malfunctioned
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- hibernating after mission: SWAS (1998-2005)
- TRACE (1998-2010)
- WISE (2009-2011)
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| On hiatus |
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| Old plans |
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Payloads are separated by bullets ( · ), launches by pipes ( | ). Manned flights are indicated in bold text. Uncatalogued launch failures are listed in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are denoted in brackets.
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