Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 3
| OAO-3 | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Type: | Space telescope |
| Country: |
 United States / United Kingdom
|
| Operator: | NASA / SRC |
| COSPAR-ID : | 1972-065A |
| Mission dates | |
| Dimensions: | 2204 kg |
| Begin: | August 21, 1972, 10:28 UTC |
| Starting place: | Cape Kennedy LC-36B |
| Launcher: | Atlas Centaur AC-22 |
| Status: | in orbit, out of service since February 1981 |
| Orbit data | |
| Rotation time : | 99.2 min |
| Orbit inclination : | 35 ° |
| Apogee height : | 724 km |
| Perigee height : | 713 km |
The Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 3 (OAO-3) , also called Copernicus , was an American-British space telescope for the ultraviolet and X-ray range.
OAO-3 was put into low earth orbit by NASA on August 21, 1972 with an Atlas Centaur rocket. In honor of Nicolaus Copernicus , it was renamed the Copernicus Observatory after its launch. With a mass of 2.2 tons, it was the heaviest space telescope at the time. The main experiment was an ultraviolet telescope developed by Princeton University Observatory under the direction of Lyman Spitzer with a primary mirror diameter of 80 cm, combined with several spectrographs for the ultraviolet range between 90 and 330 nm wavelength. In addition, OAO-3 had X-ray experiments developed by University College London .
Between 1972 and February 1981, OAO-3 obtained ultraviolet spectra from a total of 551 objects, mostly bright stars. The ultraviolet light is partially absorbed by gas and dust between the earth and the star. With OAO-3, a much better understanding of the composition and state of this interstellar matter was gained.
Web links
- OAO in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)
- OAO-3 in the NSSDCA Master Catalog (English)