Extreme ultraviolet spectroheliograph ATM experiment S082A

Abstract

The XUV spectroheliograph, Apollo Telescope Mount experiment S082A, is described. The instrument was a slitless Wadsworth grating spectrograph that employed photographic recording. The grating was of 4-m radius, ruled with 3600 grooves/mm. By rotating the grating to positions where the normal was at 255 Å or 400 Å, the spectral ranges 175–335 Å and 320–480 Å, respectively, were covered with 2-sec of arc spatial resolution. Close to the normal the resolution reached 2 sec of arc, but at the extreme limit, 630 Å, it was 10 sec of arc or worse. The aberrations of the instrument are discussed in detail as are the provisions necessary to maintain optimum imagery and reliability in a space environment. During the mission about 1020 exposures were made covering 171–335 Å or 320–630 Å.