NASA and the
Southwest Research Institute,
along with scientific collaborators from
JPL,
APL, and the
University of Maryland,
developed both an innovative new wide-field ultraviolet (UV) imager for use aboard the Space Shuttle, and an airborne version of the instrument for use aboard high performance aircraft. Two additional missions are planned.
The instrument is called the Southwest Ultraviolet
Imaging System, or SWUIS (pronounced like "swiss"). The primary objective of
the first SWUIS Hale-Bopp Imaging experiment
was to obtain image sequences of
Hale-Bopp to study its coma and tail morphology and response to solar wind
conditions during the scientifically-interesting, classical turn-off phase as
the comet moves outbound beyond 2 AU. The
second flight on STS-93, flown aboard Columbia from 23-27 July 1999, has UV imaging objectives of the Moon, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter,
and a search for Vulcanoids. A third SWUIS mission is planned to fly a spectrograph in 2000 or 2001.
Quicklook UV image of the Moon taken by the SWUIS instrument aboard Shuttle Columbia on STS-93. Taken at a wavelength of 260 nm.