International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) was an astronomical observatory satellite primarily designed to take ultraviolet spectra. The satellite was a collaborative project between NASA, the UK Science Research Council and the European Space Agency (ESA). Molėtai Astronomical Observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial and/or celestial events. ... A satellite is any object that orbits another object (which is known as its primary). ... Ultraviolet (UV) light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than soft X-rays. ... Legend: γ = Gamma rays HX = Hard X-rays SX = Soft X-Rays EUV = Extreme ultraviolet NUV = Near ultraviolet Visible light NIR = Near infrared MIR = Moderate infrared FIR = Far infrared Radio waves: EHF = Extremely high frequency (Microwaves) SHF = Super high frequency (Microwaves) UHF = Ultrahigh frequency VHF = Very high frequency HF = High frequency... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Science Council is the umbrella body covering scientific professional institutes and learned societies in the UK. Together, the member organisations cover over 150,000 scientists. ... This article is about the European Space Agency. ...

IUE was first proposed in early 1964, and finished in 1977, by a group of scientists in the United Kingdom, and was launched on January 26, 1978 aboard a NASA Delta rocket. The minimum mission lifetime was initially set for 3 years, but it far exceeded the expectations of the astronomers and engineers and was eventually switched off in 1996, exceeding the planned life by more than a factor of 6. It was the first space observatory to be operated in real time by astronomers who visited the groundstations in the United States and Europe. Astronomers made over 104,000 observations of different objects using IUE, including planets, comets, stars, interstellar gas, supernovae, planetary aurorae, galaxies, and quasars. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article is about the European Space Agency. ... The Science Council is the umbrella body covering scientific professional institutes and learned societies in the UK. Together, the member organisations cover over 150,000 scientists. ... A geosynchronous orbit is a geocentric orbit that has the same orbital period as the sidereal rotation period of the Earth. ... January 26 is the 26th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... December 30 is the 364th day of the year (365th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 1 day remaining. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Cassegrain may refer to the Cassegrain Reflector Laurent Cassegrain, catholic priest and teacher and probably the inventor of the Cassegrain Reflector Sieur Guillaume Cassegrain, French sculptur Categories: Disambiguation ... January 26 is the 26th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... Delta EELV family of launch vehicles (US Govt) Delta rocket (sometimes retroactively called Delta I) Delta II rocket Delta III rocket Delta IV rocket The Delta family of expendable launch vehicles has been a mainstay of the United States space launch capability since 1960. ... World map showing Europe Political map Europe is one of the seven continents of Earth which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiographic one, leading to various perspectives about Europes borders. ... A planet is generally considered to be a relatively large mass of accreted matter in orbit around a star. ... Comet Hale-Bopp For other uses, see Comet (disambiguation). ... The Pleiades star cluster A star is a massive body of plasma in outer space that is currently producing or has produced energy through nuclear fusion. ... The interstellar medium (or ISM) is a term used in astronomy to describe the rarefied gas and dust that exists between the stars (or their immediate circumstellar environment) within a galaxy. ... Multiwavelength X-ray image of the remnant of Keplers Supernova, SN 1604. ... Look up Aurora, aurora in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... NGC 4414, a typical spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices, is about 56,000 light years in diameter and approximately 60 million light years distant. ... This view, taken with infrared light, is a false-color image of a quasar-starburst tandem with the most luminous starburst ever seen in such a combination. ...

Project History

The concept for an ultraviolet spectographic astronomnical satellite was first proposed to ESRO, the fore-runner to ESA, by a group of British scientists in 1964. The proposal at the time was beyond the technological capability of ESA and so the concept was offered by Robert Wilson to NASA, who took up the idea and developed it as SAS-D (Small Astronomy Satellite-D). SERC joined the resulting project and provided the Vidicon cameras for the spectrographs as well as software for the scientific instruments. ESA provided the solar arrays to power the spacecraft as well as a ground observing facility in Villafranca del Castillo, Spain. NASA contributed the spacecraft itself as well as launching facilities and a second ground observatory in Greenbelt, Maryland at the Goddard Space Flight Centre. The European Space Agency (ESA) is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to exploration of space and its exploitation. ... This article is about the European Space Agency. ... 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... Sir Robert Wilson (16 April 1927 - 2 September 2002) FRS, CBE, Kt, the son of a Durham miner studied physics at Kings College, Durham and obtained his PhD in Edinburgh where he worked at the Royal Observatory on stellar spectra. ... Solar Panel made by BP Solar The solar panels (photovoltaic arrays) on this small yacht at sea can charge the 12 V batteries at up to 9 Amps in full, direct sunlight. ... The Villafranca Satellite Tracking Station in Spain. ... Location in Prince Georges County, Maryland Founded  -Incorporated 1937 {{{incorporated}}}  County Prince Georges County Mayor Judith F. Davis Area  - Total  - Water 15. ... NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), located in Greenbelt, Maryland, is a major space science laboratory. ...

According to the agreement setting up the project the observing time would be divided between the contributing agencies with 2/3 to NASA, 1/6 to ESA and 1/6 to the UK's Scientific Research Council.

Scientific Firsts and Discoveries

• The first detection of the existence of an aurora in Jupiter
• The first detection of sulfur in a Comet
• The first quantitative determination of water loss in a Comet (some 10 tons per second)
• The first evidence for strong magnetic fields in chemically peculiar stars
• The first orbital radial velocity curve for a WR star allowing its mass determination
• The first detection of hot dwarf companions to Cepheid variables
• The first observational evidence for semi-periodic mass loss in high mass stars
• The first discovery of high velocity winds in stars other than the Sun
• The first identification of the progenitor of any supernova in history (Supernova 1987A)
• The discovery of starspots on late type stars through the Doppler mapping techniques
• The discovery of large scale motions in the transition regions of low gravity stars
• The discovery of high temperature effect in stars in the early stages of formation
• The discovery of high velocity winds in cataclysmic variables
• The discovery of the effect of chemical abundance on the mass loss rate of stars
• The first determination of a temperature and density gradient in a stellar corona outside the Sun
• The first detection of gas streams within and outflowing from close binary stars
• The determination that no nova ejects material with solar abundances

IUE in geostationary orbit shown communicating with the ground observatories in USA and Spain.

• The discovery of the "O-Ne-Mg" novae, where the excess of these elements can be directly traced to the chemical composition of the most massive white dwarfs
• The discovery of a ring around SN 1987A, a leftover from previous evolutionary stages
• The first direct detection of galactic halos
• The first observations of extragalactic symbiotic stars
• The first uninterrupted light curves of stars for more than 24 hours continuously
• The first detection of photons at wavelengths less than 50 nm from any astronomical source apart from the Sun
• The first direct determination of the size of the active regions in the nuclei of Seyfert galaxies (mini-quasars)
• The first detection of a transparent sightline to a quasar at high redshift allowing the first abundance determination of the intergalactic medium in the early Universe
• The first astronomical and satellite facility ever, to deliver fully reduced data within 48 hours to the worldwide community of scientists
• The creation of the first worldwide astronomical reduced-data archive delivering 44,000 spectra per year (5 spectra per hour) to astronomers in 31 countries

Look up Aurora, aurora in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Adjective Jovian Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 70 kPa Hydrogen ~86% Helium ~14% Methane 0. ... General Name, Symbol, Number sulfur, S, 16 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 16, 3, p Appearance lemon yellow Atomic mass 32. ... Current flowing through a wire produces a magnetic field (B, labeled M here) around the wire. ... Radial velocity is the velocity of an object in the direction of the line of sight. ... Mass is a property of a physical object that quantifies the amount of matter and energy it contains. ... Hertzsprung-Russell diagram The main sequence of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram is the curve where the majority of stars are located in this diagram. ... Artists impression of a binary star system consisting of a black hole, with an accretion disc around it, and a main sequence star. ... A Cepheid variable is a member of a particular class of variable stars, notable for a fairly tight correlation between their period of variability and absolute stellar luminosity. ... SN 1987A was a supernova in the outskirts of the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a nearby dwarf galaxy. ... 400 year sunspot history A sunspot is a region on the Suns surface (photosphere) that is marked by a lower temperature than its surroundings, and intense magnetic activity. ... A source of waves moving to the left. ... TRACE 19. ... In the above two images, the scalar field is in black and white, black representing higher values, and its corresponding gradient is represented by blue arrows. ... The corona is the luminous plasma atmosphere of the Sun extending millions of kilometres into space, most easily seen during a total solar eclipse, but also observable in a coronagraph. ... Artists impression of a binary star system consisting of a black hole, with an accretion disc around it, and a main sequence star. ... Image File history File links IUE Source: http://library01. ... Image File history File links IUE Source: http://library01. ... A geostationary orbit (GSO) is a circular orbit directly above the Earths equator (0º latitude). ... White dwarf Sirius-B in x-rays A white dwarf is an astronomical object which is produced when a low or medium mass star dies. ... The galactic halo is a region of space surrounding spiral galaxies, including our galaxy, the Milky Way. ... In astronomy, a light curve is a graph of light intensity as a function of time. ... In physics, the photon (from Greek φως, phōs, meaning light) is the quantum of the electromagnetic field; for instance, light. ... Seyfert galaxies are spiral or irregular galaxies containing an extremely bright nucleus, most likely caused by a supermassive black hole, that can sometimes outshine the surrounding galaxy. ... Redshift of spectral lines in the optical spectrum of a supercluster of distant galaxies (right), as compared to that of the Sun (left). ... Intergalactic space is the physical space between galaxies. ...

References

• Exploring the Universe with the IUE Satellite ed. Y. Kondo 1987,1989 ISBN 90-277-2380-X
• ESA Science and Technology: International Ultraviolet Explorer