Today in astronomy history, NASA debuts its first satellite for observing in extreme ultraviolet.
A pioneer in ultraviolet observation, EUVE conducted a full-sky survey, a deep-sky survey, and individual studies in its nearly nine years of operation. Credit: NASA
NASA launched the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer satellite, or EUVE, on June 7, 1992, to conduct an all-sky survey at wavelengths inaccessible from the ground. The first satellite designed to operate in the short-wave ultraviolet range, its “objectives included discovering and studying UV sources radiating in this spectral region, and analyzing effects of the interstellar medium on the radiation from these sources,” according to NASA. After achieving its mission goals by conducting a full-sky survey, a deep-sky survey, and individual observations, it was decommissioned on Jan. 31, 2001.
