Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment

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Photo of the WUPPE by NASA photographer CI Thornton.
The Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT), the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT), and the Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo Polarimetry Experiment (WUPPE) in the hold during the STS-35 mission

The Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE) was a space telescope with a 50 cm mirror diameter for spectroscopy and polarimetry in the ultraviolet spectral range. It was used together with other telescopes in the shuttle missions STS-35 (ASTRO-1 in December 1990) and STS-67 (ASTRO-2 in March 1995).

WUPPE was developed at the University of Wisconsin and recorded spectra in the wavelength range 140 to 330 nm with a resolution of 0.6 nm, while the degree and direction of polarization were measured as a function of the wavelength.

During the two missions a total of 260 data sets of 186 celestial objects (mainly stars) were obtained. The measurements by WUPPE yielded, among other things, new knowledge about the properties of interstellar dust and the structure of active galactic nuclei .

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