IR astronomy zooms to prominence
Abstract
Infrared astronomy programs are discussed, with attention given to the NASA Gerard P. Kuiper Observatory (a gyroscopically stabilized 91-cm telescope mounted in a converted aircraft), a 102-cm balloon-borne gyroscopically-stabilized telescope operated by commands from the ground, as well as a projected 15-cm IR telescope on board Spacelab-2, the Infrared Astronomy Satellite, scheduled for launch in 1981, and the Space Shuttle Infrared Telescope Facility, which will employ a liquid-helium cooled 1.2-m telescope. Results of several IR observing campaigns are reported, including those related to stellar evolution in the Orion Nebula, the tentative identification of protostar clusters, and the discovery of a young star in the constellation Cygnus surrounded by a preplanetary disk.
- Publication:
-
Astronautics Aeronautics
- Pub Date:
- January 1978
- Bibcode:
- 1978AsAer..16...40F
- Keywords:
-
- Discovery (Orbiter);
- Infrared Astronomy;
- Infrared Telescopes;
- Spaceborne Astronomy;
- Technology Assessment;
- Airborne Equipment;
- Astronomical Observatories;
- Lirts (Telescope);
- Space Infrared Telescope Facility;
- Space Shuttles;
- Spaceborne Telescopes;
- Spacelab;
- Astronomy