PUFFINS Telescope Mission is a SmallSat selected under NASA’s highly competitive Astrophysics Pioneers programme. Read more about PUFFINS Telescope Mission, Objectives, Latest News.
PUFFINS Telescope Mission Latest News
A Bengaluru-born astronomer Dr. Ramya Anche will be heading the $20 million NASA space telescope mission PUFFINS.
About PUFFINS Telescope Mission
A PUFFIN (Polarimetry in the Ultraviolet to Find Features in INterStellar dust) is a SmallSat selected under NASA’s highly competitive Astrophysics Pioneers programme.
It is a NASA funded mission and is a joint effort between the University of Arizona, McDonald Observatory and other scientists.
It involves sending up a small satellite that will contain a telescope with an aperture of about 10 inches to observe the ultraviolet light of about 70 stars.
It will study the smallest grains of dust between the stars.
It will observe them using UV spectropolarimetry,
It gives scientists insights into the characteristics, presence, and behavior of interstellar dust particles.
The measurements are supposed to provide information on the particles’ characteristics and how they behave in relation to the magnetic field of the Milky Way galaxy.
The mission intends to bridge the gaps that exist in existing astronomy studies, especially those concerning the observation of interstellar dust particles using ultraviolet polarisation.
Interstellar dust refers to particles that exist in the space between the stars.
These particles have sizes ranging from less than 50 nanometers; therefore, they cannot be detected using the traditional optical or infrared techniques.
Source: TH
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