The Ariel V Satellite
Ariel V was launched into a low inclination (2.8
degrees) orbit from the San Marco launch platform in the Indian Ocean on 15
October 1974. The mission was a British-USA collaboration. The Science
Research Council managed the project for the UK and GSFC/NASA for the USA.
Ariel V was dedicated to monitoring the X-ray sky with a comprehensive
payload. The mission ended in the spring of 1980.
Mission Characteristics
Lifetime : 15
October 1974 - 14 March 1980 Energy Range :
0.3-40 keV
Payload :- Experiments aligned with the spin axis.
- Rotation Modulation Collimator (RMC) (0.3-30 keV).
- High resolution proportional counter spectrometer.
- Polarimeter/spectrometer.
- Scintillation telescope.
- All-Sky Monitor (ASM) a small (~1 cm2) pinhole camera (3-6 keV).
- Sky Survey Instrument (SSI) composite of two proportional counters with 290 cm2 effective area each (1.5-20 keV).
Science Highlights:
- Long-term monitoring of numerous X-ray sources.
- Discovery of several long period (minutes) X-ray pulsars.
- Discovery of several bright X-ray transients probably containing a Black Hole (e.g. A0620-00=Nova Mon 1975).
- Establishing that Seyfert I galaxies (AGN) are a class of X-ray emitters.
- Discovery of iron line emission in extragalactic sources.
Archive : Lightcurves from the ASM. Raw data and the 3rd
Ariel V catalog from the SSI. HEASARC Home | Observatories | Archive | Calibration | Software | Tools | Students/Teachers/Public
Last modified: Thursday, 26-Jun-2003 13:48:53 EDT