Reflections on two years of EXOSAT operations

Details Reflections on two years of EXOSAT operations Reflections on two years of EXOSAT operations

Nov 1985

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1985esabu..44...44p&link_type=abstract

ESA Bulletin (ISSN 0376-4265), no. 44, Nov. 1985, p. 44-50.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Exosat Satellite, Spaceborne Astronomy, Active Galactic Nuclei, Binary Stars, Cataclysmic Variables, Galactic Bulge, Satellite Instruments, Supernova Remnants

Scientific paper

A report on Exosat's design, allocation of user-time, and first two years of operation, is presented. Exosat's orbit with a 190,000 km apogee at high northern latitudes was chosen for the occultation role which allowed 72 h of uninterrupted celestial observation per orbit. The 120 kg of satellite instruments include: a large-area proportional counter array, two imaging telescopes with transmission gratings, positive-sensitive proportional counters, channel multiplier arrays, and a gas scintillation proportional counter. Over 1800 observations concerning the following were made: the X-ray emissions of normal stars to establish the effects of magnetic activity and rotation on the structures of a wide range of stellar atmospheres; emissions of cataclysmic variables to study the system's dynamics including the physical properties of the white-dwarf star and its interaction with its companion; the location of many hitherto unknown binary systems containing compact objects and the study of the physics operating in neutron stars (including the galactic bulge sources); the X-ray observation of supernova remnants to understand their morphology and spectrum; and study of the variability in the X-ray flux of active galactic nuclei to estimate their mass.

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