File:OAO-3 (Copernicus) (39805194462).jpg

From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Original file(2,265 × 2,426 pixels, file size: 1.56 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Captions

Captions

Add a one-line explanation of what this file represents

Summary

[edit]
Description

Orbiting Astronomical Observatory (OAO)

The OAO satellites were a series of four American space observatories launched by NASA between 1966 and 1972, which provided the first high-quality observations of many objects in ultraviolet light. Although two OAO missions were failures, the success of the other two increased awareness within the astronomical community of the benefits of space-based observations, and led to the instigation of the Hubble Space Telescope.


OAO-3 (Copernicus) was launched on 21 August 1972, and proved to be the most successful of the OAO missions. It was a collaborative effort between NASA and the UK's Science Research Council (later known as the Science and Engineering Research Council), and carried an X-ray detector built by University College London's Mullard Space Science Laboratory in addition to an 80 cm UV telescope built by Princeton University. After its launch, it was named Copernicus to mark the 500th anniversary of the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus.


Copernicus operated until February 1981, and returned high resolution spectra of hundreds of stars along with extensive X-ray observations. Among the significant discoveries made by Copernicus were the discovery of several long-period pulsars, with rotation times of many minutes instead of the more typical second or less.


Source: wikipedia.org (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbiting_Astronomical_Observatory)
Date
Source OAO-3 (Copernicus)
Author UCL Mathematical & Physical Sciences from London, UK

Licensing

[edit]
w:en:Creative Commons
attribution
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
You are free:
  • to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work
  • to remix – to adapt the work
Under the following conditions:
  • attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
This image was originally posted to Flickr by UCL Mathematical & Physical Sciences at https://flickr.com/photos/93636241@N07/39805194462. It was reviewed on 5 December 2020 by FlickreviewR 2 and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0.

5 December 2020

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current10:36, 5 December 2020Thumbnail for version as of 10:36, 5 December 20202,265 × 2,426 (1.56 MB)Eyes Roger (talk | contribs)Transferred from Flickr via #flickr2commons

There are no pages that use this file.

Metadata