EXTREME ULTRAVIOLET EXPLORER

The Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) was a space telescope for ultraviolet (UV) astronomy, launched on June 7, 1992. With instruments for UV radiation between wavelengths of 7 and 76 nm, the EUVE was the first satellite mission especially for the short-wave ultraviolet range. The satellite compiled an all-sky survey of 801 astronomical targets before being decommissioned on January 31, 2001. It re-entered the atmosphere on January 30, 2002.

MISSION GOALS:

The goals of the mission included several different areas of observation using the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) range of frequencies:

• To make an all-sky survey in the extreme ultraviolet band
• To make a deep survey in the EUV range on two separate bandpasses
• To make spectroscopic observations of targets found by other missions
• To observe EUV sources such as hot white dwarfs and coronal stars
• To study the composition of the interstellar medium using EUV spectroscopy
• To determine whether it would be beneficial to create another, more sensitive EUV telescope