SCIENCE
Copernicus was NASA's first multiwavelength astronomy observatory, featuring the largest ultraviolet telescope in space and four X-ray sensors.
The Copernicus satellite, the largest and most complicated space observatory of its day, was launched into orbit by NASA on August 21, 1972, from Launch Complex 36B at what is now Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
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Orbiting Astronomical Observatory (OAO) was renamed OAO 3 to keep up with the times after it was launched into orbit. Aside from that, it was rechristened to commemorate the birth of astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus 500 years ago (1473–1543). By formulating a concept of the solar system in which the Sun occupies centre position rather than Earth, the Polish astronomer broke with 1,300 years of convention and sparked a scientific revolution.
Copernicus was perhaps NASA's first dedicated multiwavelength astronomy observatory, equipped with the biggest ultraviolet telescope ever orbited and four co-aligned X-ray sensors. Because of this, it may be considered a precursor to modern space telescopes like NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, which monitors the sky in visible, ultraviolet, and X-ray radiation.
The Princeton Experiment Package was the principal instrument on board Copernicus, and it had a 32-inch (0.8-meter) mirror, making it about a third the size of Hubble's. The device, led by Lyman Spitzer Jr. of Princeton University in New Jersey, revealed previously unknown details about interstellar gas and the ionised outflows of blazing stars. Strong absorption from hydrogen molecules was detected in its initial target, a star designated Zeta Ophiuchi that is partially obscured by an interstellar cloud. Theoretical calculations predicted that most of the hydrogen in gas clouds existed in this form, and measurements from hundreds of different stars verified this.
It was Spitzer's 1946 speculations about the probable scientific applications of a big orbiting telescope that ultimately prompted the creation of the Hubble Space Telescope. The Spitzer Space Telescope, a NASA observatory active from 2003 to 2020 and named for him, studied nascent stars in chilly clouds.
When NASA reviewed Copernicus equipment options, only the Sun produced X-rays. 1962 brought change. Riccardo Giacconi of American Science and Engineering Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts, led the team that discovered Scorpius X-1. Suborbital rockets carried innovative X-ray detectors. Other missions have uncovered other cosmic sources, including Cygnus X-1, which has a star-mass black hole.
Copernicus has provided UV and X-ray readings for 8.25 years despite being deactivated in 1981. As more advanced observatories appeared, such as Einstein and the International Ultraviolet Explorer, it lost its role at the vanguard of space astronomy. 650 scholarly papers cite Copernicus data. Over 160 academics from the US and 13 other countries utilised its gadgets to analyse 450 items.
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