Exploring ultraviolet astronomical polarimetry: results from the Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE)

Kenneth H. Nordsieck; Arthur D. Code; C. M. Anderson; M. R. Meade; B. Babler; Donald E. Michalski; R. H. Pfeifer; T. E. Jones

doi:10.1117/12.168568

Translator Disclaimer

15 February 1994 Exploring ultraviolet astronomical polarimetry: results from the Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE)

Kenneth H. Nordsieck, Arthur D. Code, C. M. Anderson, M. R. Meade, B. Babler, Donald E. Michalski, R. H. Pfeifer, T. E. Jones

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 2010, X-Ray and Ultraviolet Polarimetry; (1994) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.168568
Event: SPIE's 1993 International Symposium on Optics, Imaging, and Instrumentation, 1993, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

In December 1990, the Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE) on the Astro-1 shuttle Spacelab mission obtained approximately eight hours of pioneering ultraviolet spectropolarimetric observations on more than 20 galactic and extragalactic objects. WUPPE is a 0.5 m Cassegrain telescope coupled to a Monk-Gilleson spectrometer with a magnesium fluoride polarizing beamsplitter preceded by magnesium fluoride halfwave retarders. Two spectra from 135 to 330 nm with orthogonal polarization are detected simultaneously by a pair of intensified photodiode arrays. The first flight measured for the first time the ultraviolet polarization induced by interstellar dust, the UV intrinsic polarization of the rapidly rotating `Be' stars, and the large polarization in a `hidden' active galactic nucleus. A second flight of Astro is currently scheduled for 1994.

Citation Download Citation

Kenneth H. Nordsieck, Arthur D. Code, C. M. Anderson, M. R. Meade, B. Babler, Donald E. Michalski, R. H. Pfeifer, and T. E. Jones "Exploring ultraviolet astronomical polarimetry: results from the Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE)", Proc. SPIE 2010, X-Ray and Ultraviolet Polarimetry, (15 February 1994); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.168568

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE