[Previous] | [Session 47] | [Next]
G.J. Melnick, J.R. Stauffer, M.L.N. Ashby, E. Bergin, S. Kleiner, B. Patten, R. Plume, V. Tolls, Z. Wang, Y. Zhang (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), N. Erickson, J. Howe, R. Snell (U. Massachusetts), P. Goldsmith, M. Harwit (Cornell U.), D.G. Koch (NASA Ames), D.A. Neufeld (Johns Hopkins U.), R. Schieder, G. Winnewisser (U. Cologne), G. Chin (NASA GSFC)
The Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS), a NASA Small Explorer class mission dedicated to the study of star formation and interstellar chemistry, has recently completed its first six months of operations. During this time SWAS has observed a number of galactic regions, including OMC-1, M17, and Sgr B2, at five frequencies corresponding to either the ground-state or a low-lying transition of H2O 11,0-10,1 (557 GHz), 13CO J = 5-4 (551 GHz), H218O 11,0-10,1 (548 GHz), O2 (J,N) = (3,3)-(2,2) (487 GHz), and [CI] 3P1-3P0 (492 GHz). SWAS employs two independent Schottky barrier diode mixers cooled to ~170 K coupled to a 52 x 68 cm off-axis Cassegrain antenna. The SWAS beamsizes are measured to be 3.2' x 4.5' at 551 GHz and 3.6' x 5.0' at 492 GHz with very good (> 20 dB) sidelobe supression. The backend is a 1.4 GHz bandwidth acousto-optical spectrometer which yields a velocity resolution of 1 km s-1. We report on our progress to date including the detection of water toward most regions observed along with large-scale maps of CI and 13CO toward OMC-1, M17, and Sgr B2.
If the author provided an email address or URL for general inquiries, it is a
s follows: