GALEX: a UV telescope to map the star formation history of the universe

Bruno Milliard; Robert Grange; Christopher Martin; David Schiminovich

doi:10.1117/12.2307874

21 November 2017 GALEX: a UV telescope to map the star formation history of the universe

Bruno Milliard, Robert Grange, Christopher Martin, David Schiminovich

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Proceedings Volume 10569, International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2000; 1056912 (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2307874
Event: International Conference on Space Optics 2000, 2000, Toulouse Labège, France

Abstract

The NASA Small Mission EXplorer GALEX (PI: C.Martin, Caltech) is under development at JPL for launch late 2001. It has been designed to map the history of star formation in the Universe over the redshift range 0-2, a major era where galaxies and gas content evolved dramatically. The expected depth and imaging quality matches the Palomar Observatory Surveys, allowing GALEX to provide the astronomical community with a database of FUV photometric and spectroscopic observations of several million galaxies in the nearby and distant Universe. The 1.24 degree FOV, 50 cm aperture compact Ritchey-Chrétien telescope is equipped with two 65 mm photon-counting detectors. It will perform several surveys of different coverage and depths, that will take advantage of a high throughput UV-transmissive Grism newly developed in France to easily switch between imagery and field spectroscopy modes. A thin aspherized fused silica dichroic component provides simultaneous observations in two UV bands (135-185 nm and 185-300 nm) as well as correction for field aberrations. We shall briefly present the mission science goals, and will describe the optical concept, along with the guidelines and compromises used for its optimization in the context of the "Faster, Better, Cheaper" NASA philosophy, and give a brief development status report.

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Bruno Milliard, Robert Grange, Christopher Martin, and David Schiminovich "GALEX: a UV telescope to map the star formation history of the universe", Proc. SPIE 10569, International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2000, 1056912 (21 November 2017); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2307874

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