The Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) will be the first true infrared astronomical observatory in space, operating at wavelengths from 2.5 to 200 micrometers . Launched into a 24 hour orbit, the observatory will be capable of pointing on specific targets for up to ten hours at a time to make observations with a versatile range of instruments including a camera, a photometer, a complement of spectrophotometers and spectrometers with resolving powers ranging up to 20,000 and polarimetric capabilities over a wide spectral range. During its active lifetime of eighteen months, ISO will be used to observe all classes of astronomical phenomena, including solar system objects, stars, the interstellar medium, and galaxies of all kinds out to extreme distances.

Date Published: 1 October 1993
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 2019, Infrared Spaceborne Remote Sensing, (1 October 1993); doi: 10.1117/12.157815

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2019:
Infrared Spaceborne Remote Sensing
Marija S. Scholl, Editor(s)