Ultraviolet sky surveys: Instruments, findings, and prospects

Noah Brosch*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

I review the development of UV and EUV astronomy, covering the spectral range from 5 to 300 nm, with emphasis on sky surveys for discrete sources. I discuss studies which resulted in lists of sources observed by imaging and deliberately omit most spectroscopic studies. Technical issues, such as detector and telescope developments, are treated separately from descriptions of specific missions and their results, which contributed to the understanding of the UV sky. The missions are compared in terms of their 'survey power', a variable which combines sky coverage and survey depth. I use the existing knowledge of UV sources to predict views of the UV sky, which I then compare with those actually detected. Finally, UV missions which will detect fainter sources and will fly in the near future are described, and a wish list for low-cost ventures, which could considerably advance our knowledge of the UV sky, is presented.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)119-187
Number of pages69
JournalExperimental Astronomy
Volume9
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 1999

Funding

FundersFunder number
Electro-Optical Industries, Ltd.
FAUST
Government of Israel
Israel Space Agency
Ministry of Science and Arts
NORDITA
US-Israel
Israel Science Foundation
Tel Aviv University
Gesellschaft der Freunde der Universität Tel Aviv in Österreich
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology

    Keywords

    • Instrumentation
    • Sky surveys
    • Ultraviolet

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