SWUIS--An imaging camera/spectrograph for UV planetary studies aboard the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station
Abstract
The Southwest Ultraviolet Imaging System (SWUIS) is a low-cost, highly versatile wide-field UV imaging system developed to fly aboard the Space Shuttle as a mid-deck locker experiment. SWUIS made its maiden flight aboard STS-85 in August 1997. During this flight, SWUIS obtained mid-UV/VIS images of comet Hale-Bopp in a variety of key emission bands (see Colwell et al., this DPS meeting). SWUIS is now slated to make its second flight aboard STS-93 in January 1999 to obtain mid-UV dynamic movies of the upper atmosphere of Venus and Jupiter; establish the morphological appearance and phase curve of the Moon in the mid-UV; and obtain mid-UV dynamic movies of the airglow along the Earth's limb. A third SWUIS flight is currently being planned, and will fly a new spectrograph with the existing instrument. We describe the instrument and the design for the new spectrograph for STS/SWUIS mission 3. In addition, we describe plans to fly SWUIS aboard the International Space Station.
- Publication:
-
Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- September 1998
- Bibcode:
- 1998BAAS...30Q1107S