Space telescopes | ||||
Corot | Automatic translation | Updated June 01, 2013 | ||
The first space telescope to track the exoplanets is French. The industrial contract was signed June 19, 2003 between CNES and Alcatel. Corot is responsible for detecting extrasolar planets in other solar systems and explore the mysteries concealed in the heart of stars. The mission conducted under the auspices of the Center National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) is conducted in cooperation with international participation of the European Space Agency (ESA) and various countries mostly European. Convection and rotation refers to the ability of satellite to probe the interior of stars to study the acoustic waves that ripple across the surface, a technique called stellar seismology" asteroseismology. | It is unlikely that the Space Telescope uncovers planets the size of Earth. During the 10 years that followed the discovery in 1995 of the first exoplanet, 51 Pegasi b, 220 planets have been detected by large ground-based observatories. The satellite COROT promises to find many more during its two-year mission and a half and push the limits of our knowledge allowing us to discover planets of smaller and smaller. When train its instruments on a star, COROT will also observe "stellar earthquakes, these acoustic waves generated deep inside a star that send ripples across its surface, altering its brightness. The nature of the ripples allows astronomers to calculate the precise mass, age and chemical composition of stars. Image: Image of artist's Corot space telescope | |||
Spitzer | ||||
The space Telescope Spitzer Lyman Spitzer, Jr. (In June 26th, 1914 - March 31st, 1997) was an American astrophysicist, an author about 200 scientific articles (according to ADS / CDS (Nasa)), among whom 155 in first author. According to his biography, he would be the first one to have expressed the idea to send an in orbit ground telescope. He participated actively in the realization of the project of the spatial telescope Hubble. He was a prize-winner of the Medal Franklin in 1980 for his research works on the mechanisms of formation of stars. His name was given to the spatial telescope Spitzer (SIRTF) when it was sent into orbit. Spitzer is the biggest infrared telescope launched by the NASA. These wavelengths which can not be usefully observed since the ground, only an object outside of the atmosphere, cooled cryogenically can make useful observations. | The new very sensitive instruments of the telescope will allow to drill the space which is darkened by clouds of gas, the interstellar clouds which block telescopes working in the visible domain. Image: Image of artist's of the space telescope Spitzer | |||
Hubble | ||||
The spatial telescope Hubble (Hubble Space Telescope or HST) is a telescope in orbit in approximately 560 kilometers in height, it makes a complete tour of the Earth every 100 minutes. It is named in honor of the astronomer Edwin Hubble Edwin Powell Hubble (in 20/11/1889 - 28/09/1953) American astronomer who showed that the Universe is expanding. Hubble is is born to Marshfield in the Missouri. He studies the mathematics and the astronomy to the university of Chicago where he) obtains his diploma in 1910. Holder of a scholarship, he crosses then 3 years to the university of Oxford where he obtains Master of Arts there straight ahead. He quickly returns to the astronomy to the look-out observatory Yerkes, where he receives his Ph. D. in 1917. Drag, the founder and the director of the observatory of the Mountain Wilson, near Pasadena in California, proposes him researcher's post. He pursues his works till the end of his life there On 28/09/1953.. Its launch The telescope was launched on April 25th, 1990 by the mission STS-31 of the Space shuttle Discovery. This launch had already been delayed in 1986 because of the disaster of the space shuttle Challenger in January of this year., made April 25th, 1990 by a Space shuttle, is the fruit of a common project between the NASA and the ESA. This telescope has an optical resolution better than 0,1 assist of bow. It is planned to replace Hubble Space Telescope in 2018 by the James Webb Space Telescope (previously named spatial Telescope new generation, Next Generation Space Telescope or NGST). The telescope Hubble weighs approximately 11 tons, is 13,2 meters long, has a maximum diameter of 4,2 meters and cost 2 billion US dollars. It is a telescope reflector in two mirrors; the main mirror is one diameter 2,4 meters. | The infrared camera and the spectrometer multi-objects must be also cooled in 180 °C. The first images supplied by the telescope were generally considered as very disappointing by the astronomers and all those concerned by the project. These images were vague and, in spite of the treatment of image, did not reach the foreseen resolution. Since then, the most beautiful images of the Universe come from Hubble. Hubble is a powerful "machine to go up time" that allows astronomers to see galaxies as they were there 13 billion years ago, just 600 million to 800 million years after the Big Bang. These data are essential to understand the universe as we now observe. The Hubble Space Telescope has been repaired for the last time in May 2009, maintenance was to extend its life of 5 years. To do this, astronauts went repair ACS camera and imaging spectrometer STIS, change 6 gyroscopes, communications systems and storage and put new batteries. Two new instruments are installed, a wide field camera and a new spectrometer to increase the visual acuity. A docking mechanism was also installed to deorbit the telescope at the end of life. | Image: The Hubble Space Telescope is suspended above the Earth at 560 km altitude. Its main mirror has a diameter of 2.4 meters. © ESA & Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre (M. Kornmesser & L. L. Christensen) | ||
Pamela | ||||
PAMELA (Payload for Antimatter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics) is a observatory in orbit intended to determine the characteristics of the black matter. | Image: Image of artist of the space telescope Pamela | |||
XMM-Newton | ||||
The European spatial telescope of the European Space agency ( E.S.A). XMM-Newton was launched on December 10th, 1999. It is the biggest observatory with X-rays never built. After one year of activity, the biggest observatory with X-rays never built delivers an impressive variety of scientific results. XMM-Newton allowed to discover of new heap of galaxies to considerable distances, several billion light years. | Indeed, a not unimportant fraction (approximately 20) of the mass of a heap is constituted by a diffuse warm gas, situated between the galaxies. This gas is warmed, considering the high gravitational potential, in temperatures which could reach to reach several tens of million degrees. A gas raised to such temperatures is a powerful source of radiation X. The strategy adopted by the international team within the framework of the program baptized "Poll of the structure with large scales with XMM" thus consists first of all in detecting the emission X of this warm gas and to look for by imaging in the same region of the sky the optical counterparts. Image: Image of artist of the space telescope Newton | |||
Herschel | ||||
The Herschel satellite is equipped with a telescope 3.5 meters in diameter and weighs 3300 kg dimension of 9m x 4m x 4m. He observed the universe in the far infrared and submillimeter wave fields in 55 microns to 670 microns in length, a window of the electromagnetic spectrum poorly explored. It was an opportunity to study the formation of galaxies and stars. Detectors traditionally used for imaging in this wavelength range are bolometers. | April 29, 2013, after exhausting its 2,300 liters of cooling liquid (helium), Herschel completed his observations of the cold Universe mission. "Herschel has exceeded our expectations by providing us with an extraordinary wealth of data that will occupy astronomers for many years," said Prof. Alvaro Giménez, Director of Science and Robotic Exploration ESA. | Image: May 14, 2009, thirty minutes after its launch, Herschel instrument is separated from the top floor of the caster to move towards the L2 Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system to 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. Herschel has helped to improve our understanding of star formation over large scales in space and cosmic time. In studying the formation of stars in distant galaxies, it has shown that many galaxies were the seat of a very intense production activity of stars, there are 13.8 billion years. In May 2013, Herschel was propelled on a rebus stable orbit around the Sun where it will remain for the long term. Credit: ESA / D. Ducros, 2009 | ||
Planck | ||||
The Planck space observatory of ESA captures the cosmic radiation or cosmic microwave background (CMB). The CMB is the "first light" of the material world, published shortly after the Big Bang, there 13,800,000,000 years ( ≈ 1%), when the light began to travel freely for the first time. The gigantic fireball that followed the Big Bang is slowly cooled to become a backdrop of microwaves. Planck observes and measures the temperature variations across this microwave background, with a much higher sensitivity, better angular resolution and a wider range of frequencies than any previous observatories. Planck showed us what it is like Universe through the first light emitted when it was at a temperature of 3000 ° C and was only 380,000 years. On July 3, 2009, Planck has reached the L2 Lagrange point and was placed on a course called Lissajous orbit. Planck, the time machine measure with high accuracy the cosmic background radiation or cosmic microwave background (trace of the Big Bang ) to establish a mapping of inhomogeneities of temperature and polarization of the radiation. | For this he has a telescope of 1.5 m diameter and 2 scientific instruments developed by the LFI and HFI Italy entrusted to France. The first promising images, arrived June 14, 2009. This is the famous image of the spiral Whirlpool Galaxy, M51, that those responsible for the instrument Photoconductor Array Camera and Spectrometer have received for a first analysis. The first edition of the catalog of compact sources ( ERCSC, Early Release Compact Source Catalogue) was published and presented on 11 January 2011, with thousands of sources detected by Planck. The reserve of helium used to cool ran out in January 2012 and October 2013, the operations center of the European Space Agency (ESA), based in Darmstadt (Germany), turned off the transmitters and instruments satellite. But for scientists there is still much data to analyze. In 2014, they will publish a new set of cosmological data. Then the Planck satellite will be powered on a scrap steady orbit around the Sun where it will remain forever, along with the Herschel satellite. The two satellites were launched together by an Ariane rocket in May 2009. | Image: This false-color composite image shows the Planck space telescope, on a map of the CMB (Cosmic Microwave Background radiation), the "first light" of the universe, issued shortly after the Big Bang, there 13,80,000,000 years (≈ 1%). | ||
MOST | ||||
The spatial telescope MOST (Microvariability and oscillation of STARS or Microvariability and Oscillation of Stars) is launched in the space in 2003. It is the first Canadian scientific satellite sent into orbit and completely conceived and built by Canada. | He can so cross 60 days to observe continuously the same star. Its life cycle should be from 5 to 10 years old. Image: The spatial telescope MOST put in service in 2004. | |||
Soho | ||||
SOHO mission aims to study the internal structure of the Sun, its warm atmosphere, the origins of the solar wind. The SOHO spacecraft is a collaboration between NASA and ESA. It was launched on 2 December 1995 based on Cape Canaveral (USA) by a rocket Atlas II. In operation since February 1996, and despite a loss of contact for several months, the mission is going remarkably well and is extended beyond 2010. The Earth-Sun distance is 150 million kilometers. SOHO operates in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point L1. At this point, the gravitational forces exerted by the Sun and the Earth on an object are balanced, but the balance is unstable and therefore SOHO orbits around this particular point. SOHO period is equal to the period of revolution of the Earth around the Sun, or about 365 days. December 26, 2010 SoHo (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) discovered its 2000th comet. It belongs to the group of comets " Kreutz", a large population of comets that all share the same orbital path in space. Kreutz comets come from a single parent comet has probably broken near the Sun there for centuries or more. Approximately 85% of the comets SOHO finds are tiny fragments of the original object. | Image: Image of artist of the space telescope Soho. | |||
Kepler | ||||
Kepler, the Space Telescope over a ton, went toward the Milky Way, 6 March 2009 to 22 h 48 hours of Florida, aboard a Delta II, searching for extrasolar planets or exoplanets. | This monster of NASA sees broad as it is equipped with a photometer to measure the brightness of tens of thousands of stars simultaneously, to increase the chances of discovery by the transit method. Image: Kepler space telescope, over a ton, went towards the Milky Way, March 6, 2009. | |||
WISE | ||||
Space Telescope (WISE Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer) is a satellite carrying an infrared telescope designed to photograph sensitive across the entire sky. Its primary objective is to detect the infrared asteroids in the solar system and of course the Near Earth Objects whose trajectory is likely to graze the Earth. Its second objective is to detect young stars or low light in the vicinity of the Sun which are difficult to observe brown dwarfs because it does not shine. Its third objective is to detect the stars of our galaxy obscured by interstellar clouds. These invisible stars, constitute more than 90% of all stars. And finally to observe the structure and process of formation of nearby galaxies. As the observations in the infrared are sensitive to temperature, the telescope WISE and its detectors are kept at very cold temperatures (258 º C, only 15 ° Celsius above absolute zero) by a cryostat filled with solid hydrogen instead ice. | The orbits of WISE, aligned to the North Pole to South Pole through the equator, can scan a strip of sky. As the Earth moves around the Sun, the band swept the sky, and after six months WISE has observed the entire sky. Image: Artist Image Space Telescope (WISE Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer) | |||
Cryosat-2 | ||||
ESA's Earth Explorer CryoSat mission is dedicated to precise monitoring of changes in the thickness of floating sea ice in polar oceans, and variations in the thickness of the ice cap covering Greenland and Antarctica. The effects of climate change are much more visible in the polar regions, it is important to understand exactly how the ice fields of the Earth react. | The satellite, orbiting polar ice caps fly regularly for 3 years until 2013. Each time, the altimeter will measure the height of the ice of Antarctica and the Arctic but also that of sea ice and mountain glaciers. Image: Images assembled from Cryosat-2 satellite and the sea ice. | |||
SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory) | ||||
Launched February 11, 2010, SDO is the most sophisticated spacecraft ever designed to study the sun. After a series of small adjustments to the engine, SDO has stabilized in geosynchronous orbit. | The Galaxy 15 satellite stopped responding to commands and engineers undertake the recovery operation. Image: The ring of fire of March 30, 2010. This image of Solar Dynamics Observatory shows in detail a major eruption that generated this great solar prominence taken on or about March 30, 2010. The twisting motion of the solar material in this photo is the most remarkable feature. Image Credit: NASA / SDO / AIA | |||
SWIFT Gamma-Ray | ||||
SWIFT is a space telescope, launched on a low Earth orbit, November 20, 2004 at 5:16:00 p.m. UTC, by a Delta 2 rocket. The purpose of SWIFT is to study gamma-ray bursts. Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are explosions, the most powerful of the Universe since the Big Bang. Gamma-ray bursts, brief but intense, occur about once a day in the universe. These are real hot burning of gamma radiation coming from all directions of the sky and last from a few milliseconds to a few hundred seconds. Scientists wonder if these are births of black holes, stellar explosions, collisions of neutron stars, dislocations of stars by a supermassive black hole, or is it another exotic phenomenon that causes these explosions? | Since 2004, scientists have a dedicated tool to answer these questions and solve the mystery of gamma-ray burst. Its three scientific instruments provide the opportunity to scrutinize gamma-ray bursts like never before. Within seconds of detecting a burst, Swift relays its location cosmic ground stations, allowing both ground-based telescopes and spacecraft from around the world to observe the burst afterglow. Image: Image of the artist SWIFT satellite, Explorer Gamma ray bursts. | |||
Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) | ||||
Probe Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) was launched June 30, 2001. It is intended to study the anisotropy i.e. the study of the CMB (Cosmic Microwave Background). WMAP was named in tribute to the American astronomer David Wilkinson, member of the team in charge of the satellite, a pioneer in the study of cosmic microwave background, who died Sept. 5, 2002. The purpose of the mission is to map the best possible accuracy with the temperature fluctuations of the cosmic microwave thermal radiation and its polarization to allow recovery of the material content of the universe. The first results of the WMAP probe have been rightly hailed as a breakthrough in understanding the universe because WMAP produced the first complete map of the CMB from that of the COBE satellite in 1992 and it has a resolution significantly better. The cosmos is older than 13.7 billion years. The first generation of stars began to light up 200 million years after the Big Bang. The image was published February 11, 2003. This picture shows a map of the observable universe known in the state it was in his establishment, at the age of 380 000 years as it became transparent. | This murmur radio captured in the 3K radiation or -270°C, shows the residual fluctuations of our universe and filigree, lumps of matter that gave rise to galaxies. Planck Space Observatory, launched in May 2009 takes over to explain the history of the Universe. Its objective is to observe the cosmic microwave background, the radiation emitted 380,000 years after the birth of the universe, which explains why the current temperature of the Universe is 2.7 K. | Image: The analysis of the WMAP image of the entire sky suggests that the universe is older than 13.7 billion years (with an accuracy of 1%). It is composed of 73% dark energy, 23% of cold dark matter, and only 4% of atoms. It is currently expanding at a rate of 71 km/s / Mpc (with an accuracy of 5%), it rose by episodes of rapid expansion called inflation and grow forever. Credit: WMAP Science Team, NASA |