Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer

The Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer ( EUVE ) was a space telescope for ultraviolet astronomy. With instruments for UV radiation 7-76 nm EUVE was the first satellite mission especially for the short-wave ultraviolet range.

EUVE is a development of NASA and the Space Sciences Laboratory of the University of California, Berkeley. EUVE was launched on June 7, 1992 a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral. Scientific operation ended on 26 January 2001, the satellite entered on 30 January 2002 back into the Earth's atmosphere.

EUVE had three experiments, which each had one or more small Wolter telescopes and use microchannel plates as detectors:

• A camera with a 5 ° field of view with two filters for 4.4-22 nm and 14-36 nm
• A camera with a 4 ° field of view with two filters for 52-75 nm and 40-60 nm
• A combination of camera and spectrometer for the wavelength range 7-76 nm, for observations of individual objects.

The peculiarity of the extreme ultraviolet range (EUV ) for astronomical applications is that this range of electromagnetic radiation is swallowed even by small amounts of atomic hydrogen in the interstellar medium. However, by the irregular structure of the interstellar medium with large ionized regions may nevertheless be observed primarily near and some hot stars in the EUV. Also, some active galactic nuclei can be investigated. In the first six months of the mission by EUV surveyed the entire sky for sources of short-wave ultraviolet radiation and thereby created a catalog of over 700 objects. Then mainly sensitive observations of individual objects were recovered.