The EXOSAT Observatory


artist concept of EXOSAT in space The European Space Agency's X-ray Observatory, EXOSAT, was operational from May 1983 to April 1986. During that time, EXOSAT made 1780 observations of a wide variety of objects, including active galactic nuclei, stellar coronae, cataclysmic variables, white dwarfs, X-ray binaries, clusters of galaxies, and supernova remnants.

Mission Characteristics

* Lifetime : May 26, 1983 - April 9, 1986
* Energy Range : 0.05-50 keV
* Special Features : 90 Hours highly-eccentric Earth orbit
* Payload :
  • 2 Wolter Type I grazing incidence Low Energy (LE; 0.05-2 keV) Imaging Telescopes, FOV ~ 2°, peak effective area 10 cm2 each with
    • Channel Multiplier Array (CMA; 0.05-2.0keV)
      eff. area 0.4 - 10 cm2, FOV ~2°, ~18 arcsecond spatial resolution
    • Position Sensitive Detector (PSD)
    • Transmission Gratings (TGS)
      500 lines mm-1(LE2), 1000 lines mm-1(LE1). Used in conjunction with the CMA detectors.
  • A Medium Energy (ME) Proportional Counter
    1-50 keV, FOV 45 arcmin, 1600 cm2
  • A Gas Scintillation (GS) Proportional Counter
    2-20 keV, 100 cm2
* Science Highlights:
  • Discovery of the Quasi Period Oscillations in LMXRB and X-ray Pulsars
  • Comprehensive study of AGN variability
  • Observing LMXRB and CV over many orbital periods
  • Measuring iron line in galactic and extra galactic sources
  • Obtaining low-energy high-resolution spectra
* Archive : HEASARC hosts catalogs, spectra, lightcurves, images and raw data

[EXOSAT Home] [About EXOSAT] [Archive] [Software] [Gallery] [Publications]

[All Missions] [by Time] [by Energy]

Page authors: Lorella Angelini Jesse Allen
HEASARC Home | Observatories | Archive | Calibration | Software | Tools | Students/Teachers/Public

Last modified: Thursday, 24-Sep-2020 19:09:56 EDT