Abstract
The Japanese satellite-borne infrared telescope, the Infrared Telescope in Space (IRTS), has completed a successful survey of a portion of the infrared sky. The IRTS consists of a 15 cm telescope cooled with superfluid liquid helium, and is installed on board the Space Flyer Unit (SFU) spacecraft. The SFU was launched on 1995 March 18 UT. The sky survey by the IRTS started on March 29 UT, and was completed on April 25 UT after exhausting its liquid helium. The cryogenic system operated as designed, and maintained the telescope and the focal-plane instruments at a stable temperature of 1.9 K for 38 days. The four focal-plane instruments, which together covered almost the entire infrared wavelength range, observed a sky area of about 2700 deg2 and returned a wealth of new data on a variety of objects, including the zodiacal light, interstellar gas and dust, near-infrared cosmic background light and point sources.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.