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The Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) satellite will obtain high spectral resolution ($\lambda$/$\Delta\lambda$ = 30,000) measurements in the 905 - 1195$\AA$ bandpass from low-earth orbit. The high sensitivity and low background of the instrument will permit for the first time FUV observations of faint extragalactic sources, as well as sources throughout our Galaxy.
A preliminary science plan has been developed to address wide variety of fundamental problems in astrophysics. This plan includes a substantial commitment of time to high priority topics identified by the FUSE Science Team:
- Measurement of the deuterium/hydrogen ratio in a wide variety of environments in the disk and halo of the Galaxy, in high velocity clouds, and in the halos of other galaxies. - Measurement of O VI in the disk and halo to determine the distribution, kinematics, and the sources of the ionization of hot gas in the Galaxy. - Observations of QSOs in the redshift range 2 < z < 2.9 to search for evidence of the Gunn-Peterson effect in He II. - Calibration of the H$_{2}$/CO ratio in cool molecular clouds. - Mass loss and atmospheric processes in hot and cool stars. - Accretion phenomena and other properties of active galactic nuclei. - Solar system studies, including the Io torus, the atmosphere of Jupiter, and comets.
Additional topics are currently being considered for inclusion on this list.
Details of these problems, plans for target selection, and observing strategies are presented. We also discuss preliminary plans for the FUSE Guest Investigator program which, together with allocations to Canada and France as collaborators in the mission, will comprise approximately 60% of the observing time over the expected three year lifetime of FUSE.
FUSE is scheduled to be launched on a Med-Lite rocket at the end of 1998.
