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The Naval Research Laboratory's Far Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (FUVIS) experiment was flown as the Spartan-204 payload on shuttle mission STS-63, February 3-11, 1995. Its science objectives were to study astronomical and artificially-induced sources of diffuse far-ultraviolet radiation. The astronomical sources of interest include diffuse nebulae (H II regions, reflection nebulae, and supernova remnants) and the diffuse galactic background radiation, for measurements of temperature and abundances (in the gaseous phase) and of the scattering properties of dust grains (particularly at short wavelengths). The instrument design optimized its diffuse-source sensitivity and long-slit imaging capability. Observations were obtained in the 970-2000 A and 1230-2000 A wavelength ranges, with spectral resolution as good as 5 A. The field of view along the spectrograph slit was 2.7R and the spatial (imaging) resolution along the slit was about 3 arc min. Targets of observation in the STS-63 mission included the Orion Nebula (observed with several slit azimuth orientations centered on the nebula), the region of 15 Mon, IC 410, the Crab Nebula, the California Nebula, and the Rosette Nebula. Processing of the flight film recordings (from the spectrograph and aspect cameras) was in progress at the abstract submission deadline. Quick-look results, and plans for near-future data reduction and analysis, will be presented at the conference.
