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.
The first in a series of 8 successfully launched Orbiting Solar
Observatories (OSO 1) was launched on 7 March 1962. The 200 kg spacecraft
had a 9-sided spinning wheel section 1.2 m in diameter joined onto a fan-
shaped sail section. It was put into a roughly circular orbit at ~ 575 km
altitude, 32.8 degrees inclination. It s primary mission objectives were to
measure the solar electromagnetic radiation in the UV, X-ray, and gamma-ray
regions. Secondarily, it was to investigate dust particle in space. Data
transmission ended on 6 August 1963. The satellite reentered the
Earth's atmosphere 8 October 1981.
There were a number of X-ray and gamma-ray experiments aboard OSO 1 for
performing solar observations. One instrument, however, the University of
Minnesota Gamma-ray Experiment, was designed to provide preliminary
measurements of the intensity and directional properties of low-energy
gamma-rays in space. The detector operated in the 50 keV - 3 MeV range. For
the 50-150 keV range, a NaI(Tl) scintillation crystal monitored radiation
through a lead shield. The detector operating in the 0.3-1.0 MeV and
1.0-3.0 MeV energy regions used two scintillators connected as a Compton
coincidence telescope.
The U. Minnesota gamma-ray experiment on OSO 1 produced a measurement of
the extraterrestrial gamma-ray flux between 0.5-3.0 MeV, and an indication
of its origin on the celestial sphere. Equally important, this experiment
began to define the background problems encountered in gamma-ray astronomy.
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.
