Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
STIS under construction, 1996
STIS camera images Saturn aurora
STIS images the Fomalhaut system (January 8, 2013) (NASA).
Ultraviolet image of Jupiter's aurora; the bright spot at far left is the end of field line to Io; spots at bottom lead to Ganymede and Europa.

The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) is a

HD 209458b
.

The STIS was installed on Hubble in 1997 during its second servicing mission (

High Resolution Spectrograph and the Faint Object Spectrograph. It was designed to operate for five years. On August 3, 2004, an electronic failure rendered STIS inoperable, ending its use 2 years beyond its predicted lifespan. In order to bring it back to operational status, the instrument was repaired by space shuttle astronauts during STS-125, Servicing Mission 4, launched on May 11, 2009.[4] The crew did a long (many hour) EVA to repair the instrument.[5]

Congratulations, you brought STIS back to life.

Design

STIS is both a spectrograph and an imaging camera, and is focused on ultraviolet light.[5]

The STIS has three 1024×1024 detector arrays. The first is a charge-coupled device with a 52×52 arc-second field of view, covering the visible and near-infrared spectrum from 200 nm to 1030 nm.

The other two detectors are Multi-Anode Multichannel Arrays, each with a 25×25 arc-second field of view. One is Cs2Te, and covers the near-UV between 160 nm and 310 nm. The other is CsI and covers the far-UV between 115 nm and 170 nm.[6]

Timeline

STS-125 launches, a Space Shuttle Atlantis mission that repaired STIS and returned it to service
  • February 14, 1997- STIS installed[3][5] (STS-82)
  • 2001, Switches to Side-2 electronics after a failure in side-1.[7]
  • August 3, 2004- STIS goes offline due to side-2 power-failure[3][5]
  • 2009- STIS repaired[5] (STS-125)
  • As of 2022 Operating on side-2 electronics with all optical and UV channels.[7]

Selected discoveries and observations

On its 20th anniversary (1997-2017) NASA noted a selection of discoveries and/or observations conducted with STIS:[8]

  • Survey of 20 galaxies to look for black holes
  • Study of the Intergalactic Medium
  • Study of the
    Galactic Halo
  • Study of
    Interstellar Medium
  • Chemical analysis of an atmosphere of an exoplanet
  • Observations of a Dust Disk around Beta Pictoris
  • Study of massive stars in R136 (in the Tarantula Nebula)
  • Study of the star Eta Carinae
  • Study of
    Supernova 1987A
  • Study of flows from an
    Active Galaxy

See also

Other Hubble instruments :

References

  1. ^ Tanglao, Leezel (2014-05-01). "Inventor of the camera used on Hubble telescope has died". CBS News. Retrieved 2014-05-18.
  2. ^ "Tributes paid to man who changed the face of space". Eastbourne Herald. 2014-05-09. Retrieved 2014-05-18.
  3. ^ a b c McKee, Maggie (2019-06-30). "NASA attempts to revive Hubble's main camera". New Scientist. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  4. ^ "Space Telescope Operations Control Center — Flight Day 7". NASA. May 17, 2009.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Gebhardt, Chris (2009-05-17). "STS-125: Eight hour EVA-4 works STIS repair – Atlantis' TPS overview". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  6. ^ "STIS Instrument Detectors". Space Telescope Science Institute. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  7. ^ a b About STIS
  8. ^ Hille, Karl (2017-02-28). "The 20th Anniversary of Hubble's STIS Instrument". NASA. Retrieved 2017-03-20.

External links