Pan-American Astrophysics Explorer: a small explorer far-UV survey mission

Christopher Martin

doi:10.1117/12.19152

1 July 1990 Pan-American Astrophysics Explorer: a small explorer far-UV survey mission

Christopher Martin

Proceedings Volume 1235, Instrumentation in Astronomy VII; (1990) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.19152
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation for the 21st Century, 1990, Tucson, AZ, United States

Abstract

NASA plans for PAX, a photometric and spectroscopic FUV survey mission utilizing a Small Explorer spacecraft, are summarized. PAX is to perform an all-sky survey to limiting magnitude 18 at 140 and 180 nm, deep surveys of selected areas to 21 mag in the same bands, and a spectroscopic survey of 2 percent of the sky to 18 mag. The PAX telescope parameters include diameter 33 cm, focal length 72 cm, plate scale 0.3 arcsec/micron, focal ratio 2.2, FOV 4.8 deg, and system angular resolution 15 arcsec; the microchannel-plate detector employs CsI/KBr photocathodes and a mosaic wedge-and-strip readout scheme. The principal scientific aim of PAX is to increase by a factor of 100-1000 the number of known galactic nuclei, QSOs, active galaxies, white dwarfs, cataclysmic variables, and evolved stars. The mission should also provide new insights into post-main-sequence stellar evolution, star formation in normal galaxies, the distribution of dust in the Galaxy, and the ionization and large-scale distribution of the intergalactic medium.

Citation Download Citation

Christopher Martin "Pan-American Astrophysics Explorer: a small explorer far-UV survey mission", Proc. SPIE 1235, Instrumentation in Astronomy VII, (1 July 1990); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.19152

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KEYWORDS

Sensors

Stars

Microchannel plates

Galactic astronomy

Telescopes

Ultraviolet radiation

Prisms

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