Abstract
This first chapter of the book “Observing Photons in Space” serves to illustrate the rewards of observing photons in space, to state our aims, and to introduce the structure and the conventions used. The title of the book reflects the history of space astronomy: it started at the high-energy end of the electromagnetic spectrum, where the photon aspect of the radiation dominates. Nevertheless, both the wave and the photon aspects of this radiation will be considered extensively. In this first chapter we also describe the arduous efforts that were needed before observations from pointed, stable platforms, lifted by rockets above the Earth’s atmosphere, became the matter of course they seem to be today. This exemplifies the direct link between technical effort — including proper design, construction, testing and calibration — and some of the early fundamental insights gained from space observations. We further report in some detail the pioneering work of the early space astronomers, who started with the study of gamma- and X-rays as well as ultraviolet photons. We also show how efforts to observe from space platforms in the visible, infrared, sub-millimetre and microwave domains developed and led to today’s emphasis on observations at long wavelengths.
For the truth of the conclusions of physical science, observation is the supreme court of appeals Sir Arthur Eddington
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Notes
- 1.
The name “photon”, derived from the Greek τ ò \(\varphi \tilde{\omega }\varsigma\) for “the light”, was coined by Lewis (1926), more than 20 years after Einstein’s postulate.
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- 4.
LISA, a projected giant laser-aligned structure with a 5 Gm extent, would be able to expand our knowledge of the Universe by sensing the low-frequency gravitational radiation that is continuously emitted by massive objects throughout the Universe. Low-frequency gravitational waves are accessible only in space, where they are not submerged in the geophysical noise (as is the case for ground-based gravitational-wave detectors). Gravitational radiation eventually would let us reach further back in time, beyond the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) — the current limit to photon observations. Moreover, when direct observation of gravitational radiation from astrophysical sources begins, new tests of general relativity, including strong gravity, will become possible (Will 2009).
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- 8.
There is, in addition, a sample of nearby stars, where the column density of the interstellar gas is exceptionally low along the lines of sight, and where, consequently, studies in this wavelength region are possible as well (cf., EUVE, Bowyer et al 1996).
- 9.
In the exceptional case of the HST, this fate has been postponed several times by re-boosts. As the HST was designed for in-orbit servicing, it can be connected to the Shuttle and, by use of the Shuttle propulsion engines, can be lifted into a higher orbit. This possibility also allowed astronauts, who visited Hubble five times, to repair and upgrade HST; in the first instance by auxiliary optics, which compensated the accidental spherical aberration of the prime mirror. The ISS is regularly boosted, too.
- 10.
The International Standard Organisation (ISO) has issued a highly-detailed list of definitions of wavelength ranges. This list, however, is accessible only to paying customers.
- 11.
High-altitude balloons do not only extend the accessible wavelength range towards shorter wavelengths, but also permit to overcome the seeing caused by turbulence in the lower, denser atmosphere. This was exploited by the “Stratoscope” project, a telescope (with a diameter D = 30.5 cm), which took photographs of the solar granulation at a wavelength λ ≈ 505 nm at an altitude of 24 km, i.e., above the tropopause (cf., Figure 1.3). With proper optical and thermal design, the theoretical diameter of the diffraction disk, given by the diameter of the primary mirror of the telescope, \(1.12\,(\lambda /D) \approx 1.85 \times 1{0}^{-6}\) rad = 0.35′ ′ was actually achieved (Schwarzschild 1959).
- 12.
1.5 Gm correspond to 1 % of the Earth-Sun distance.
- 13.
For L1 this also avoids disturbances between the radio downlink of the spacecraft and radio emission from the Sun.
- 14.
Even before the end of World War II, instrumentation had been prepared in Germany for flights with an A4 rocket. The initiative came from Erich Regener, and was supported by Wernher von Braun. A barrel-shaped container (the “Regener Tonne”) was equipped with barometers and temperature sensors as well as spectrographs to observe the solar spectrum at high altitude. Although this will sound curious to today’s space researchers, there was no weight limitation: the A4 rocket, which was used by the military as the V2 missile, had been designed to carry a ton of explosives. However, the lack of a pointing system would have allowed exposures to be taken only during the descent on a parachute. Diffusing optics, as described by de Jager (2001), were foreseen to feed light into the spectrometers. To achieve a proper deployment of the parachute, a launch up to an altitude of only ca. 50 km was planned. The payload had been delivered to the launch site, Peenemünde, in early January 1945 and its adjustments and functional tests had been completed on 18 January. At that time, however, the increasing severity of the war prohibited an A4-flight for scientific purposes (cf., DeVorkin 1993; de Jager 2001; Keppler 2003).
- 15.
Regener and Regener (1934) had earlier recorded the solar spectrum down to 294 nm on a balloon flight that had reached an altitude of 29.3 km.
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- 17.
Remarkably, seven years later, the same group could report a stability of the Copernicus (OAO-3) satellite of better than ± 50 mas over a full orbit of ca. 90 min (Rogerson et al 1973).
Figure 1.4 
The first photograph of the ultraviolet spectrum of the Sun, at an altitude of 55 km. Several exposures were made at different altitudes with a US Naval Research Laboratory spectrograph that was carried in a V2 rocket on 10 October 1946 (from Tousey 1967). Reproduced by permission of the AAS.
- 18.
The OSO series of NASA missions was primarily aimed at solar observations. Yet, the OSO satellites not only provided a platform for instruments pointed at the Sun but also accommodated a set of instruments, which scanned the sky in the course of six months (see, e.g., Kraushaar et al 1972).
- 19.
In modern nomenclature: “radiance”
- 20.
Because of a tape-recorder failure
- 21.
The largest, robust red-shift sample of early galaxies at the time of going to press was derived from the 2012 Hubble Ultra Deep Field Campaign (Ellis et al 2013).
- 22.
NASA’s early lunar exploration programme was based in part on the use of the unmanned “Lunar Orbiter” spacecraft. These were designed to obtain detailed photographs of potential Apollo landing sites in the years 1966 to 1967. As no suitable electronic cameras were available at that time, the Moon’s surface was photographed from lunar orbit. The exposed film was developed and photoelectrically scanned on board. The images could then be sent back to Earth by telemetry (Browker and Hughes 1971).
- 23.
As there were no “solar blind” emulsions, alkali films for wavelengths in the VUV or thin metal filters for X-rays had to be used to reject visible light in photographic apparatus, unless the object was a young star, with peak radiation in the ultraviolet. For photographic X-ray observations thin metal films were used not only to reject the visible radiation, but also to selectively transmit a given wavelength region (cf., Vaiana and Rosner 1978).
- 24.
Finally, the reflectance of normal-incidence optical systems falls dramatically below 50 nm, and use of grazing-incidence telescopes (Brueggemann 1968) and spectrometers (Samson 1967), or synthetic multilayer interference coatings (Spiller 1974) is mandatory (cf., Chapters 9 and 10, Lemaire et al 2013; Lemaire 2013).
- 25.
Translated: “The rocket to the regions of the planets”.
- 26.
At the time of going to press, Spitzer and Herschel had been in space for ten and three years, respectively. Both observatories had run out of coolant; Herschel had terminated its operations in spring 2013, but Spitzer continued observing with its shorter wavelength channel.
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Huber, M.C.E., Pauluhn, A., Timothy, J.G. (2013). Observing photons in space. In: Huber, M.C.E., Pauluhn, A., Culhane, J.L., Timothy, J.G., Wilhelm, K., Zehnder, A. (eds) Observing Photons in Space. ISSI Scientific Report Series, vol 9. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7804-1_1
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