Astronomers complete testing for NASA

The $458 million instrument will provide the clearest view ever of the universe in infrared light--a wavelength of light that's invisible to the naked eye as well as most telescopes. Even specially built telescopes have a difficult time seeing infrared objects in space since Earth's atmosphere blocks most infrared light, leaving astronomers blind to regions of space that may actually be teeming with celestial objects. The ignition of fledgling stars, the evolution of solar systems, and activity within the most distant galaxies are among the events SIRTF is specially designed to witness.

"Ground telescopes may be a lot cheaper to operate, but if you want the best infrared images, you have to go to space," explained William Forrest, professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. "Not only does the atmosphere block infrared light but the Earth itself is glowing with it. It's like trying to look through a telescope that's lined with light bulbs."

Forrest and fellow Professor Judith Pipher were the first U.S. astronomers to turn an infrared array toward the skies, putting the University on the map as home to one of the world's strongest programs in infrared astronomy. The array was originally designed to help the U.S. military see in the dark, but by 1983, Pipher and Forrest had turned it to more scientific aims and mounted it to the University telescope. In the small observatory on top of the Wilmot Building on campus they took the first telescopic infrared pictures of the moon.

In that same year, NASA sent out word that it was looking for scientists to help build an infrared space telescope, and Pipher and Forrest put forth their ideas based in part on the infrared technology christened on campus. The proposal impressed NASA, and within just a few months Pipher and Forrest were evaluating and testing SIRTF's would-be eyes, and they were soon joined by Professor Dan Watson, a newly hired astronomer. The Rochester contingent is part of a nationwide team of scientists from more than a dozen academic institutions and aerospace companies; the project is led by the SIRTF Science Center at the Caltech-NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

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