Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS) early performanceThe on-orbit performance of the HST + FOS instrument is described and illustrated with examples of initial scientific results. The effects of the spherical aberration from the misfiguring of the HST primary mirror upon isolated point sources and in complex fields such as the nuclei of galaxies are analyzed. Possible means for eliminating the effects of spherical aberration are studied. Concepts include using image enhancement software to extract maximum spatial and spectral information from the existing data as well as several options to repair or compensate for the HST's optical performance. In particular, it may be possible to install corrective optics into the HST which will eliminate the spherical aberration for the FOS and some of the other instruments. The more promising ideas and calculations of the expected improvements in performance are briefly described.
Document ID
19920062532
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Harms, Richard (Applied Research Corp. Landover, MD, United States)
Fitch, John (Space Telescope Science Institute Baltimore, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 15, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1991
Subject Category
Astronomy
Meeting Information
Meeting: Space Astronomical Telescopes and Instruments