This is the flight backup to the grazing incidence photographic spectrograph used on Skylab (Experiment S020). The spectrograph was mounted in the solar airlock of the Orbital Workshop. It recorded x-ray and uv solar spectra. An astronaut employed a small telescope mounted at the side to place an image of the sun on the entrance slit of the instrument. A thin metallic film blocked visible sunlight allowing uv and x-ray energy through to a large diffraction grating at a very shallow grazing angle. The resulting dispersed spectrum was recorded on photographic film. Dr. Richard Tousey of the Naval Research Laboratory was the Principal Investigator for this experiment. The instrument was transferred from NASA's Johnson Manned Space Center in 1982.
This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.
United States of America
INSTRUMENTS-Scientific
Naval Research Laboratory
3-D: 30.5 × 48.3 × 24.1cm, 11.3kg (1 ft. × 1 ft. 7 in. × 9 1/2 in., 25lb.)
Storage (Rehoused on aluminum pallet with three other objects): 152.4 × 152.4 × 83.8cm, 150.6kg (5 ft. × 5 ft. × 2 ft. 9 in., 332lb.)
Anodized Aluminum
Aluminum
Glass
Steel
Synthetics
A19820459000
Transferrred from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Air and Space Museum
Usage conditions apply
For more information, visit the Smithsonians Terms of Use.