With all
that man has yet to learn about the world beyond his own,
much that he now knows can be traced back to a polish astronomer
born 500 years ago. His name
Nicolas Copernicus, the father of modern astronomy,
who formulated the concept that the moon and Earth revolve around the sun,
rather than vice versa.
Nearly five centuries later, his name has been
memorialized in a new space telescope designed by
scientists at Princeton University in the United States and University College
in London. The Princeton contribution was a large
reflecting telescope for detecting invisible ultraviolet radiation.
University College designed a new
system for monitoring sources of X-ray energy in outer space.
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Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Copernicus was launched from Cape Kennedy in Florida,
on August 21st, 1972.
Enclosed in a tip of an Atlas Centaur rocket, it was the largest and most complex
unmanned spacecraft ever sent into orbit from the United States.
Scientists and dignitaries from Poland and England attended
the night time launch.
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From the Earth an astronomer can see millions of
lightyears away, but only in the range of visible light.
Cut off from him by Earth’s atmosphere, are the ultraviolet,
infrared, gamma and X-rays, containing
secrets of how the Universe was born in the darkest reaches of time
and space. Five hundred
miles above the atmosphere, conditions are ideal for probing
these mysteries. That is where Copernicus is now on full-time
duty using its solar panels for electric power
to find and lock on to many stars, and dust between the stars,
where stars are born.
Ground stations around the world receive transmissions from Copernicus
and relay them to the United States. Astronomers everywhere are pleased
with the early results. Material needed to form new stars
has been found where none was thought to exist.
At least one star system is rotating at a speed that
increases almost daily. Other early observations remain to be
interpreted as the eye of the new Copernicus
continues its studies of invisible clues to the creation of the Universe.
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Produced and Written
by Robert Foster
film editor Dominick Ruggiero
Narrator Phil Tonken
Executive producers Jerry Berger and Jack Gaines