Faint Object Spectrograph
The Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS) was a spectrograph installed on the Hubble Space Telescope. It was replaced by the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph in 1997.
As a spectrograph FOS spreads out the light gathered by the telescope so that it can be analysed to determine such properties of celestial objects as chemical composition and abundances, temperature, radial velocity, rotational velocity, and magnetic fields. The FOS examined fainter objects than the GHRS, and could study these objects across a much wider spectral range. The FOS had two modes of operation - low resolution and high resolution. In low resolution mode it reached 26th magnitude in one hour with a resolving power of 250. At high resolution, the FOS reached only 22nd magnitude in an hour, but the resolving power was increased to 0.9 Angstroms at 1200 Angstroms.
FOS Facts
- Instrument type: Spectrograph
- Resolution: Low resolution - 5 Angstroms at 1200 Angstroms High resolution - 0.9 Angstroms at 1200 Angstroms
- Wavelength range: 1150 to 8500 Angstroms
External links
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