Launch from Cape Canaveral (
KSC);
landing on Edwards
AFB.
ASTRO-2 marked the second flight of three
ultraviolet telescopes flown on Astro-1, mounted on Instrument Pointing System
on Spacelab pallet in cargo bay. Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (
HUT), developed at the Johns Hopkins University,
performs spectroscopy in far ultraviolet region of spectrum to identify
physical processes and chemical composition of a celestial object. Improvements
made to
HUT after ASTRO-1 made it three times more sensitive.
Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (
WUPPE), built at the University of Wisconsin, measures
photometry and polarization of ultraviolet radiation from astronomical objects.
Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (
UIT), sponsored by
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, takes wide-field
photographs of objects in ultraviolet light.
ASTRO-2 program aimed at
exploring 23 different science programs, and all were achieved.
HUT, considered complement to Hubble Space Telescope,
completed more than 200 separate observations of more than 100 celestial
objects. Investigators believed telescope collected enough data to meet its
primary mission objective: detecting presence of intergalactic helium, telltale
remnant of theoretical Big Bang explosion that began universe.
HUT, in conjunction with Hubble telescope, took
ultraviolet measurements of Jupiter's aurora; also studied Jupiter's moon Io,
and Venusian and Martian atmospheres.
UIT
cameras imaged about two dozen large spiral galaxies for inclusion in atlas of
such galaxies, and made first ultraviolet images of entire moon. Also studied
rare, hot stars that are 100 times as hot as sun; elliptical galaxies and some
of faintest galaxies in universe. Investigators were disappointed upon
developing UIT film to learn that one of its two cameras had malfunctioned
undetected on orbit, but an initial assessment showed that 80 percent of
science objectives still would be met.
WUPPE yielded a "treasure chest of data," according to
its principal investigator, greatly expanding database on ultraviolet
spectropolarimetry. Targets for study of interstellar medium included dust
clouds in Milky Way and nearby galaxy, Large Magellanic Cloud.
WUPPE also studied several types of stars, including
Wolf-Rayet and Be stars. Also able to capitalize on opportunity to study three
recently exploding novae.
On the Middeck, science experiments include
the Protein Crystal Growth Thermal Enclosure System Vapor Diffusion
Apparatus-03 experiment (PCG-TES-03), the Protein Crystal Growth Single Thermal
Enclosure System-02 (PCG-STES-02), the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment-II
(SAREX-II), the Middeck Active Control Experiment (MACE), the Commercial
Materials Dispersion Apparatus Instrumentation Technology Associates
Experiments-03 (CMIX-03) and the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX).
The
mission was extended one day due of bad weather and so this Shuttle flight
became the longest to date.