ORFEUS-SPAS II

Orbiting and Retrievable Far and Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer-Shuttle PAllet Satellite II

past Mission

Type

Instrument

Launch

Nov. 20, 1996

Partners

German Aerospace Center, NASA

Objective

Study celestial ultraviolet light sources

A trio of instruments, deployed from the space shuttle, to study celestial sources of light in the far- and extreme-ultraviolet spectrum, and learn more about the evolution of stars, the structure of galaxies, and the nature of the interstellar medium.

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The image is divided horizontally by an undulating line between a cloudscape forming a nebula along the bottom portion and a comparatively clear upper portion. Speckled across both portions is a starfield, showing innumerable stars of many sizes. The smallest of these are small, distant, and faint points of light. The largest of these appear larger, closer, brighter, and more fully resolved with 8-point diffraction spikes. The upper portion of the image is blueish, and has wispy translucent cloud-like streaks rising from the nebula below. The orangish cloudy formation in the bottom half varies in density and ranges from translucent to opaque. The stars vary in color, the majority of which have a blue or orange hue. The cloud-like structure of the nebula contains ridges, peaks, and valleys – an appearance very similar to a mountain range. Three long diffraction spikes from the top right edge of the image suggest the presence of a large star just out of view.

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