Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope

Ultraviolet Telescope

The Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) was a space telescope designed to make spectroscopic observations in the far-ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum. It was flown into orbit on the Space Shuttle and operated from the Shuttle's payload bay on two occasions: in December 1990, as part of Shuttle mission STS-35, and in March 1995, as part of mission STS-67.[1]

HUT was designed and built by a team based at Johns Hopkins University, led by Arthur Davidsen.[2][3] The telescope consisted of a 90 cm main mirror used to focus ultraviolet light onto a spectrograph situated at the prime focus. This instrument had a spectroscopic range of 82.5 to 185 nms, and a spectral resolution of about 0.3 nm.[2] It weighed 789 kilograms (1736 pounds).[2]

HUT was used to observe a wide range of astrophysical sources, including supernova remnants, active galactic nuclei, cataclysmic variable stars, as well as various planets in our Solar System.[4] During the 1990 flight, HUT was used to make 106 observations of 77 astronomical targets. During the 1995 flight, 385 observations were made of 265 targets.[5]

HUT was co-mounted with WUPPE, HIT, and BBXRT on the Astro-1 mission (1990) and with just WUPPE and HIT on Astro-2 (in 1995).[6]

References

  1. ↑ Bill Blair. "What is HUT and what does it do?". Retrieved 2009-02-22.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Bill Blair. "HUT Technical Summary". Retrieved 2009-02-22.
  3. ↑ Dennis Overbye (2001-07-22). "Arthur Davidsen, 57, Johns Hopkins Astrophysicist, Dies". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-02-22.
  4. ↑ Bill Blair (1995-10-16). "Achievements of ASTRO-2". Retrieved 2009-02-22.
  5. ↑ "The Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope - VizieR On-line Data Catalog". June 2001. Retrieved 2009-02-22.
  6. ↑ Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope

External links