PUFFINS Telescope Mission

PUFFINS Telescope Mission Latest News

A Bengaluru-born astronomer Dr. Ramya Anche will be heading the $20 million NASA space telescope mission PUFFINS. 

About PUFFINS Telescope Mission

• A PUFFIN (Polarimetry in the Ultraviolet to Find Features in INterStellar dust) is a SmallSat selected under NASA’s highly competitive Astrophysics Pioneers programme.
• It is a NASA funded mission and is a joint effort between the University of Arizona, McDonald Observatory and other scientists.
• It involves sending up a small satellite that will contain a telescope with an aperture of about 10 inches to observe the ultraviolet light of about 70 stars.
• It will study the smallest grains of dust between the stars.
• It will observe them using UV spectropolarimetry,
• It gives scientists insights into the characteristics, presence, and behavior of interstellar dust particles.
• The measurements are supposed to provide information on the particles’ characteristics and how they behave in relation to the magnetic field of the Milky Way galaxy.
• The mission intends to bridge the gaps that exist in existing astronomy studies, especially those concerning the observation of interstellar dust particles using ultraviolet polarisation.
  • Interstellar dust refers to particles that exist in the space between the stars.
  • These particles have sizes ranging from less than 50 nanometers; therefore, they cannot be detected using the traditional optical or infrared techniques.

Source: TH

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