The Use of the Uvicon-Celescope Television System for Ultra-violet Astronomical Photometryt

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the use of the Uvicon-Celescope television system for ultra-violet astronomical photometry. The Uvicon and the Celescope have been developed to meet the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's requirement for measuring the ultra-violet brightness and the positions of a very large number of objects throughout the sky. Figures present in this chapter are the actual appearance of the experimental apparatus. It shows a block diagram that highlights the basic design of the Celescope equipment and the various steps by which this equipment transforms the input information into the appropriate output video signal. The first transformation, optical focusing, is performed by the optical sub-system in the usual fashion. The second transformation is conversion to photoelectric current by the Uvicon photocathode. The third transformation is conversion of the photoelectric current into a video signal. The fourth transformation is amplification of the video signal and conversion to digital form by the electronic sub-system. A tabular data gives the performance requirements placed on the Celescope system in terms of accuracy of measurement and range of variation of the input variables compared with actual system performance, as demonstrated by tests using both laboratory and space-borne equipment.