A joint US, Dutch and British space telescope launched in 1983 as the first orbiting observatory to survey the entire sky in infrared light, discovering hundreds of thousands of new infrared sources including newly forming stars and dusty debris disks around other stars. It operated for only ten months before its coolant was exhausted, but its all-sky catalog remained a standard reference for decades.
Facts
Observatory Type LocationSun-synchronous low Earth orbit, altitude approximately 879 to 906 km 1 Measuresinfrared sources across the entire sky at 12, 25, 60 and 100 micrometer wavelengths 1 Operating Principle73 kilograms of superfluid helium cooled the telescope to 2 K, enabling infrared detection until the coolant was exhausted 1 Classification
Observing Band Connections
Operated By
Joint NASA/Netherlands(NIVR)/UK(SERC) mission; only NASA has a matching agency entity in this atlas.
Source Wikipedia (space and spaceflight articles)
Additional Source Wikipedia: IRASLead section
Sources
1. Wikipedia: IRAS
Lead section
The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (Dutch: Infrarood Astronomische Satelliet) (IRAS) was the first space telescope to perform a survey of the entire night sky at infrared wavelengths.
Infobox, orbital parameters
Regime: Sun-synchronous orbit, Perigee altitude: 879.05 km (546.22 mi), Apogee altitude: 906.05 km (562.99 mi)
Infobox, launch date
Launched on 25 January 1983
Survey section
It mapped 96% of the sky four times, at 12, 25, 60 and 100 micrometers, with resolutions ranging from 30 arcseconds at 12 micrometers to 2 arcminutes at 100 micrometers.
Cooling system section
73 kilograms (161 lb) of superfluid helium kept the telescope at a temperature of 2 K, keeping the satellite cool by evaporation.
Lead section, infrared clause
The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (Dutch: Infrarood Astronomische Satelliet) (IRAS) was the first space telescope to perform a survey of the entire night sky at infrared wavelengths.
In Group: Infrared Space Telescopes, Lead sentence
The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (Dutch: Infrarood Astronomische Satelliet) (IRAS) was the first space telescope to perform a survey of the entire night sky at infrared wavelengths.
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