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Session 9 - Instruments, Techniques.
Display session, Monday, June 09
South Main Hall,
The Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) satellite will obtain high spectral resolution (R 30,000) astronomical measurements in the 905 - 1195A bandpass from low-earth orbit. The high sensitivity and low background of the instrument will permit high spectral resolution FUV observations of sources throughout the Milky Way and, for the first time for a long duration mission, of extragalactic sources as well.
The Principal Investigator and Science Team have created a coherent observing program to address several key science objectives. The highest priority objectives include measuring the deuterium abundance in the Milky Way halo and disk, and determining the distribution and properties of hot gas in the halo and disk as traced through O VI absorption. This poster will describe the comprehensive observing program planned for these studies.
Other high priority science programs include studies of molecular hydrogen, whose strongest transitions occur in the FUSE spectral region, and a measurement of the column density distribution and opacity of He II in the intergalactic medium at redshifts of 2.1-2.8.
Along with these programs, which require a substantial investment of observing time, the Science and Instrument teams have identified a small number of more modest programs to pursue. Among these are the dynamics of atmospheres in hot and cool stars, cooling flows galaxies, and observations of planetary atmospheres and target-of- opportunity comets.
In addition to the observations by the Science Team described here, the FUSE mission will have a comparable amount of time available for guest investigators, so that a much broader range of studies will be accomplished with the FUSE satellite.
