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View UVI Photographs
UVI Camera
Instrument Description Summary:
The Ultraviolet Imager (UVI) consists of a camera and an electronic support package known as the Electronic Stack. The UVI is a two dimensional spatial imager which produces images of the Earth's auroral regions in the far ultraviolet wavelength range (130nm to 190 nm). Using any of five specially designed filters the UVI camera will image an eight degree circular field of view. Images are generated once every 37 seconds with an angular resolution of 0.036 degrees. The Electronic Stack monitors the status of the camera, controls the mechanical components and serves as the electrical interface with the spacecraft. UVI weighs 21 kilograms, uses 21 watts, and has a telemetry output of 12 kbps. The overall sensitivity of the instrument is about 10 Rayleighs which is equivalent to being able to detect objects more than 100 times fainter than the eye can see.
The UVI was manufactured, assembled and tested at Marshall Center in a joint effort with the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Ala. and Science and Engineering Associates in Huntsville.
For more detailed information on the Ultraviolet Imager instrument, go the top of the page and click on the instrument subsystem of interest. Also, look up the following paper:
'A Far Ultraviolet Imager for the International Solar Terrestrial Physics Mission', M. R. Torr, D. G. Torr, M. Zukic, R. B. Johnson, J. Ajello, P. Banks, K. Clark, K. Cole, C. Keffer, G. Parks, B. Tsurutani, and J. Spann, Space Science Reviews, Vol. 71: 329-383, 1995.
Polar Mission:
The UVI is one of 11 scientific instruments launched with the GGS/Polar spacecraft on a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. on February 23rd 1996. The Polar space craft weighs 1,0050 kilograms (2,216 pounds) and carries some 269 kilograms (593 pounds) of propellant for orbit and attitude control. The design life of the Polar spacecraft is three years. GGS is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Md., for the Office of Space Science at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC Data collected by the spacecraft is disseminated to the UVI investigation team at Marshall Center from GSFC's Central Data Handling facility. Detailed analysis is performed and data is shared through the NASA Science Internet connections throughout the United States, Japan and Europe. More detail about the Polar mission is available on the Polar home page.
Summary of Basic Instrument Parameters:
| Wavelength range (five filters) |
130-190 nm |
| Focal Length |
124 mm |
| f/# |
2.9 |
| Full aperture |
12.13 cm sq |
| Full solid angle |
1.53e-2 (sr.) |
| Field of view (full angle) |
8 Degrees |
| Number of spatial elements |
36728 |
| Size of spatial elements at photocathode |
74x87 m |
| Typical sensitivity per spatial
element at photocathode |
0.1 (Photoelectrons/R/37 s) |
| Angular resolution |
~0.036 Degrees |
| Data rate |
12Kpbs |
| Power |
21 Watts |
| Mass |
21 Kg |
The UVI was manufactured, assembled and tested at Marshall Center in a joint effort with the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Ala. and Science and Engineering Associates in Huntsville.
For more detailed information on the Ultraviolet Imager instrument, look up the following paper:
'A Far Ultraviolet Imager for the International Solar Terrestrial Physics Mission', M. R. Torr, D. G. Torr, M. Zukic, R. B. Johnson, J. Ajello, P. Banks, K. Clark, K. Cole, C. Keffer, G. Parks, B. Tsurutani, and J. Spann, Space Science Reviews, Vol. 71: 329-383, 1995.
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