X-ray astronomy project photos

PVB-rocket-xray-apr69-4.jpg

Description

Paul Vanden Bout writes, "From 1967-70 I was at Columbia U., first as a postdoc and then as an Asst. Prof. Roger Angel and I shared an office. We were both in Robert Novick’s research group, working on x-ray astronomy projects. These slides are of the launch of Angel’s payload, an x-ray polarimeter. The launch was successful and he got a measure of the polarization of x-rays emitted by the Crab Nebula. The experiment was the idea of Lo Woltjer, chairman of the Columbia Astronomy Department. Slides 4&5 are of the block house where we were to huddle during the launch. Usually, the audience stayed outside, the better to see. I was present at a launch that failed. The booster fired but the Nike did not. Everyone ran into the block house, waited, and when the Nike landed there was a huge explosion, big enough to shake the blockhouse. It left a crater about the size of a two-car garage."

Creator

Papers of Paul A. Vanden Bout

Rights

NRAO/AUI/NSF

Type

Still Image

Identifier

PVB-rocket-xray-apr69-4.jpg

Original Format of Digital Item

Slide

Start Date

1969-04

Photographer

Photo Credit

Contact Archivist for photo credit information.

Notes

See also 19 8x10 color prints of the launch experiment.

Series

Photographs Series

Citation

Papers of Paul A. Vanden Bout, “X-ray astronomy project photos,” NRAO/AUI Archives, accessed March 29, 2024, https://www.nrao.edu/archives/items/show/33857.