X-ray astronomy project photos

PVB-rocket-xray-apr69-1.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 1-3 are of the launch towers. The payload was carried above the atmosphere by a Nike rocket. A JATO booster pushed the rocket up the tower rails. A wire tied to the rails was thereby pulled out of a valve, releasing fuel and oxidizer to the Nike rocket motor. Ignition was immediate."

Creator

Papers of Paul A. Vanden Bout

Rights

NRAO/AUI/NSF

Type

Still Image

Identifier

PVB-rocket-xray-apr69-1.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 28, 2024, https://www.nrao.edu/archives/items/show/33860.