High Energy Astronomy Observatory 1

High Energy Astronomy Observatory 1

The first of NASA's three High Energy Astronomy Observatories, HEAO 1, launched August 12, 1977 aboard an Atlas rocket with a Centaur upper stage, operated until 9 January 1979. During that time, it scanned the X-ray sky almost three times over 0.2 keV - 10 MeV, provided nearly constant monitoring of X-ray sources near the ecliptic poles, as well as more detailed studies of a number of objects through pointed observations.

HEAO included four large X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy instruments, known as A1, A2, A3, and A4, respectively (before launch, HEAO 1 was known as HEAO A). The orbital inclination was about 22.7 degrees. HEAO 1 re-entered the Earth's atmosphere on 15 March 1979.

Read more about High Energy Astronomy Observatory 1:  A1: Large-Area Sky Survey Instrument, A2: Cosmic X-ray Experiment, A3: Modulation Collimator Instrument, A4: Hard X-Ray / Low-Energy Gamma-ray Experiment

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