EYES FOR NEXT NASA SPACE TELESCOPE DEVELOPED, DELIVERED

For infrared astronomers, the air is as thick as pea soup, but three University scientists are helping NASA clear the view.

Rochester astronomers Judy Pipher, Dan Watson, and Bill Forrest have completed crucial testing of two of the camera "eyes" on NASA's new infrared telescope to be launched into space.

The Space InfraRed Telescope Facility (SIRTF) will lift off from Cape Canaveral on Dec. 14, 2001, carrying aloft nearly two decades of work by the University team and other scientists from around the nation.

The $458 million instrument will provide the clearest view ever of the universe in infrared light--a wavelength of light that is invisible to the naked eye as well as most telescopes.

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," explains Forrest. "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 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.

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