Far-Ultraviolet Astronomy on the Astro-1 Space Shuttle Mission<A NAME=tex2html1 HREF="footnode.html#502"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="gif" SRC="http://praxis.pha.jhu.edu/figs/foot_motif.gif"></A>-.1truein



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Far-Ultraviolet Astronomy on the Astro-1 Space Shuttle Misssion

Arthur F. Davidsen

Reprinted from Science, 1993, 259, 327, published by AAAS; © 1993 American Association for the Advancement of Science.


ABSTRACT

The Astro-1 mission obtained observations related to a wide variety of current problems in astronomy during a 9-day flight of the space shuttle Columbia. Early results from one of the instruments, the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope, are reviewed here. Among these are new insights concerning the origin of the ultraviolet light from the old stellar population in elliptical galaxies, new evidence for a hot, gaseous corona surrounding the Milky Way, improved views of the physical conditions in active galactic nuclei, and a measurement of the ionization state of the local interstellar medium.





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