UV space telescope will provide new capabilities

Following the successful launching of two 'Ofek' satellites in 1988 and 1990, a satellite-borne UV astronomical telescope is being planned as Israel's first scientific space venture. Although the satellite will be quite small, it is anticipated that the compact multispectral telescope will bring back a wealth of scientific data not provided by more-grandiose systems such as the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Reasons for the anticipated success of this telescope include its dedication solely to UV imaging, wide field of view (FOV), and expected operation for two years or more. The purpose of the mission is to return to earth high-resolution images of a large area of the sky in three bands in the 140- to 280-nm wavelength region simultaneously. It will exploit the dark skies between Lyman α and the atmospheric cut-off, observing from an altitude of a few hundred kilometers, while in the earth's shadow to avoid scattered light from the atmosphere. The images will neither duplicate those obtained in the past nor those to be obtained by other planned UV satellite missions in the future.