We present the flight performance and preliminary science results from the first flight of the Sub-orbital Local Interstellar Cloud Experiment (SLICE). SLICE is a rocket-borne far-ultraviolet instrument designed to study the diffuse interstellar medium. The SLICE payload comprises a Cassegrain telescope with LiF-coated aluminum optics feeding a Rowland Circle spectrograph operating at medium resolution (R ~ 5000) over the 102 – 107 nm bandpass. We present a novel method for cleaning LiF-overcoated Al optics and the instrumental wavelength calibration, while the details of the instrument design and assembly are presented in a companion proceeding (Kane et al. 2013). We focus primarily on first results from the spring 2013 launch of SLICE in this work. SLICE was launched aboard a Terrier-Black Brant IX sounding rocket from White Sands Missile Range to observe four hot stars sampling different interstellar sightlines. The instrument acquired approximately 240 seconds of on-target time for the science spectra. We observe atomic and molecular transitions (HI, OI, CII, OVI, H₂) tracing a range of temperatures, ionization states, and molecular fractions in diffuse interstellar clouds. Initial spectral synthesis results and future plans are discussed.

Date Published: 26 September 2013
PDF: 13 pages
Proc. SPIE 8859, UV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Space Instrumentation for Astronomy XVIII, 885910 (26 September 2013); doi: 10.1117/12.2023400

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8859:
UV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Space Instrumentation for Astronomy XVIII
Oswald H. Siegmund, Editor(s)