The OSO-8 Satellite
The 8th Orbiting Solar Observatory (OSO-8) was launched on 21 June 1975. While OSO-8's primary objective was to observe the Sun, four instruments were dedicated to observations of other celestial X-ray sources brighter than a few milliCrab. OSO-8 ceased operations on 1 October 1978.
Mission Characteristics
Lifetime : 21 June 1975 - 1 October 1978Energy Range : 0.15 keV - 1 MeV
Payload :
- GSFC Cosmic X-Ray Spectroscopy Experiment (GCXSE)
Detector A (2-60 keV): Eff. area = 263 cm2, FOV = 5°
Detector B (2-20 keV): Eff. area = 37 cm2, FOV = 3°
Detector C (2-60 keV): Eff. area = 237 cm2, FOV = 5° - High Energy Celestial X-ray Experiment
0.01-1 MeV eff. area 27.5 cm2, FOV 5° - Soft X-ray Background Radiation Experiment
0.15-45 keV eff. area 51.8 cm2, 43.0 cm2, 41.7 cm2, FOV 2.7° with 3° spatial resolution - Graphite Crystal X-ray Spectrometer
2-8 keV, FOV 3°
- Iron-line detection in the X-ray spectra of a cluster of galaxies.
- Detection of Black-Body spectrum from X-ray bursts.
- Set upper limit on the polarization of radiation from several X-ray binaries.
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Last modified: Thursday, 26-Jun-2003 13:48:54 EDT