The ultraviolet telescope aboard the astrophysical space station Astron

The UV telescope of the Soviet astrophysical space station Astron, launched in March, 1983, to an orbit with apogee 200,000 km, perigee 2000 km, period about 96 h, and inclination 51 deg, is characterized, and some preliminary results are presented in graphs and discussed. The instrument comprises a Ritchey-Chretien system with Al and MgF2-coated 80-cm primary and 26-cm secondary mirrors, a 30-arcmin field, and equivalent focal length about 8 m; a Rowland spectrometer with three first-order channels covering the 110-350-nm range and a zero-order channel for 170-600 nm; 1, 12, and 75-arcsec entrance diaphragms; a precision mechanical carriage displacing the photomultipliers in 25-pm steps; and focal-plane sensors for automatic adjustment of the secondary. The data presented are from a study of mass loss in Chi2 Ori, Rho Leo, BS 6245, and Tau Sco; a search for heavy elements in eight Ap stars; and energy-distribution investigations of the hot component of the dwarf nova RX And and of 17 galaxies.