HEASARC Staff Scientist Position - Applications are now being accepted for a Staff Scientist with significant experience and interest in the technical aspects of astrophysics research, to work in the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC) at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, MD. Refer to the AAS Job register for full details.

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ACTIVE MISSIONS
   AstroSat    BurstCube
   CALET    Chandra
   Fermi    HXMT-Insight
   INTEGRAL    IXPE
   MAXI    NICER
   NuSTAR    SRG  eROSITA
   /ART-XC
   Swift    XMM-Newton
   XRISM    
PAST MISSIONS
   AGILE    ANS
   ARIEL V    ASCA
   BBXRT    BeppoSAX
   CGRO    COPERNICUS
   COS-B    DXS
   EINSTEIN    EUVE
   EXOSAT    GINGA
   GRANAT    HaloSat
   HAKUCHO    HEAO-1
   HEAO-3    HETE-2
   Hitomi    OSO-7
   OSO-8    ROSAT
   Rossi XTE    SAS-2
   SAS-3    Suzaku
   TENMA    UHURU
   VELA 5B     WASS
   XQC    

The HEAO-1 Satellite

artist concept of HEAO-1
Beginning in 1977, NASA launched a series of very large scientific payloads called High Energy Astronomy Observatories (HEAO). The first of these missions, HEAO-1 surveyed the X-ray sky almost three times over the 0.2 keV - 10 MeV energy band, provided nearly constant monitoring of X-ray sources near the ecliptic poles. More detailed studies of a number of objects were made through pointed observations lasting typically 3-6 hours.


Mission Characteristics

* Lifetime : 12 August 1977 - 9 January 1979
* Energy Range : 0.2 keV - 10 MeV
* Payload :
  • A1 - Large Area Sky Survey experiment (LASS) :
    0.25-25 keV, eff. area 7 modules each of 1350 - 1900 cm2, FOV varied between 1° X 4° to 1° x 0.5° for finest collimators.
  • A2 - Cosmic X-ray Experiment (CXE) :
    six separate proportional counters
    • Low Energy Detectors (LED) 0.15-3.0 keV, eff. area 2 detectors of 400 cm2 each
    • Medium Energy Detector (MED) 1.5-20 keV, eff. area 1 detector at 800 cm2
    • High Energy Detector (HED) 2.5-60 keV, eff. area 3 detectors at 800 cm2 each
    MED and HEDs had various FOV settings, 1.5° x 3°, 3° x 3° and 3° x 6°
  • A3 - Modulation Collimator (MC) :
    0.9-13.3 keV, eff. area 2 collimators 400 cm2 (MC1) & 300 cm2 (MC2), FOV 4° X 4°
  • A4 - Hard X-Ray / Low Energy Gamma Ray Experiment :
    seven inorganic phoswich scintillator detectors
    • Low Energy Detectors 15-200 keV, eff. area 2 detectors 100 cm2 each, FOV 1.7° x 20°
    • Medium Energy Detectors 80 keV - 2 MeV, eff. area 4 detectors 45 cm2 each, FOV 17°
    • High Energy Detector 120 keV - 10 MeV, eff. area 1 detector 100 cm2, FOV 37°
* Science Highlights:
  • Complete flux-limited High Galactic Latitude Survey (Piccinotti et al. 1982).
  • Measurement of X-ray background from 3-50 keV (Marshall et al. 1980, ApJ, 235, 4.)
  • Comprehensive catalog of X-ray sources (one for each experiment).
  • Several hundred optical companions and source classifications based on X-ray source positions.
  • Monitored variability of a variety of objects from AGNs to X-ray binaries.
  • Studied aperiodic variability in Cyg X-1 on timescales on a few milliseconds
  • Discovered the first eclipse seen in a low-mass X-ray binary.
* Archive: HEASARC hosts catalogs, spectra, lightcurves, maps and raw data.
Not all are available for all experiments.
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Page authors: Lorella Angelini Jesse Allen
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Last modified: Thursday, 24-Sep-2020 19:39:51 EDT

HEASARC Staff Scientist Position - Applications are now being accepted for a Staff Scientist with significant experience and interest in the technical aspects of astrophysics research, to work in the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC) at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, MD. Refer to the AAS Job register for full details.