Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope

Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope

HUT in orbit
Start of mission
Launch date	2 December 1990, 06:49:00 (1990-12-02UTC06:49Z) UTC
Rocket	STS-35/STS-67
Launch site	Kennedy Space Center
Deployed from	Space Shuttle Columbia STS-35/Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-67
Main Ultraviolet Telescope
Diameter	90 cm (35 in)

The Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) was a space telescope designed to make spectroscopic observations in the far-ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum. It was flown into orbit on the Space Shuttle and operated from the Shuttle's payload bay on two occasions: in December 1990, as part of Shuttle mission STS-35, and in March 1995, as part of mission STS-67.^[1]

HUT was designed and built by a team based at Johns Hopkins University, led by Arthur Davidsen.^[2][3] The telescope consisted of a 90 cm main mirror used to focus ultraviolet light onto a spectrograph situated at the prime focus. This instrument had a spectroscopic range of 82.5 to 185 nms, and a spectral resolution of about 0.3 nm.^[2] It weighed 789 kilograms (1736 pounds).^[2]

HUT was used to observe a wide range of astrophysical sources, including supernova remnants, active galactic nuclei, cataclysmic variable stars, as well as various planets in the Solar System.^[4] During the 1990 flight, HUT was used to make 106 observations of 77 astronomical targets. During the 1995 flight, 385 observations were made of 265 targets.^[5]

HUT was co-mounted with WUPPE, HIT, and BBXRT on the Astro-1 mission (1990) and with just WUPPE and HIT on Astro-2 (in 1995).^[6]

As of January 2023, HUT is now in storage at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. in the United States.^[7]

• HUT webpage at Johns Hopkins University