The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) mission

Abstract

view Abstract Citations (1017) References (6) Co-Reads Similar Papers Volume Content Graphics Metrics Export Citation NASA/ADS The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) mission. Neugebauer, G. ; Habing, H. J. ; van Duinen, R. ; Aumann, H. H. ; Baud, B. ; Beichman, C. A. ; Beintema, D. A. ; Boggess, N. ; Clegg, P. E. ; de Jong, T. ; Emerson, J. P. ; Gautier, T. N. ; Gillett, F. C. ; Harris, S. ; Hauser, M. G. ; Houck, J. R. ; Jennings, R. E. ; Low, F. J. ; Marsden, P. L. ; Miley, G. ; Olnon, F. M. ; Pottasch, S. R. ; Raimond, E. ; Rowan-Robinson, M. ; Soifer, B. T. ; Walker, R. G. ; Wesselius, P. R. ; Young, E. Abstract The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) consists of a spacecraft and a liquid helium cryostat that contains a cooled IR telescope. The telescope's focal plane assembly is cooled to less than 3 K, and contains 62 IR detectors in the survey array which are arranged so that every source crossing the field of view can be seen by at least two detectors in each of four wavelength bands. The satellite was launched into a 900 km-altitude near-polar orbit, and its cryogenic helium supply was exhausted on November 22, 1983. By mission's end, 72 percent of the sky had been observed with three or more hours-confirming scans, and 95 percent with two or more hours-confirming scans. About 2000 stars detected at 12 and 25 microns early in the mission, and identified in the SAO (1966) catalog, have a positional uncertainty ellipse whose axes are 45 x 9 arcsec for an hours-confirmed source. Publication: The Astrophysical Journal Pub Date: March 1984 DOI: 10.1086/184209 Bibcode: 1984ApJ...278L...1N Keywords: Infrared Astronomy Satellite; Satellite-Borne Instruments; Spaceborne Astronomy; Calibrating; Cryogenic Cooling; Data Reduction; Focal Plane Devices; Infrared Telescopes; Spaceborne Telescopes; Astronomy full text sources ADS | data products SIMBAD (3)

Keywords

Affiliated Institutions

• University of Groningen NL
• Leiden Observatory
• Jet Propulsion Laboratory US
• California Institute of Technology US
• Rijksmuseum NL
• Queen Mary University of London GB

Related Publications