Rocket and laboratory studies in astronomy

During the reporting period we have prepared the Faint Object Telescope (FOT) for launch from Woomera for far-ultraviolet (FUV) long-slit spectroscopy of the core for 30 Doradus. We have continued our laboratory studies of the ultraviolet (UV) performance of charge-coupled-detector (CCD) arrays and plan to include a UV-sensitive CCD in a new payload that was assembled during the current period. The objective of the experiment is the ultraviolet imaging of Jupiter and we are scheduled to launch the payload, 36. 115UG, in June-July 1996. We have also continued the design of a high resolution FUV spectrograph for a future flight of the FOT and have received a high line density grating fabricated by Jobin-Yvon, S.A. (France) for evaluation. Work has continued on the analysis of data from previous rocket experiments.