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Early ultraviolet spectroscopy from space

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Abstract

The period starting around 1950 and extending into the twenty-first century will probably ultimately be remembered as the golden age of discovery in observational astronomy. This is because of the simultaneous occurrence of three technological advances: the ability to observe the entire electromagnetic spectrum, by combining observations from the ground and from above the absorbing effects of the Earth’s atmosphere; the creation of efficient and high-precision detectors of electromagnetic radiation; and the development of computers for processing and manipulating large electronic data sets. The field of ultraviolet (UV) astronomical spectroscopy at wavelengths shorter than 3100 Å has benefited from all three of these technological revolutions and has required access to space for its very existence.

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Savage, B.D. (2001). Early ultraviolet spectroscopy from space. In: Bleeker, J.A.M., Geiss, J., Huber, M.C.E. (eds) The Century of Space Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0320-9_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0320-9_13

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