images

Artist view of ISO in orbit

by

ESA/Novapix

Reference

e-sou13-95001

Date

2006-11-16

The world's first space infrared observatory, ISO was designed to study the Universe's radiation between 2.5 and 240 microns as a follow up to the all-sky survey conducted by the NASA-med Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS) in 1983. Operated as an observatory, studying specific targets, ISO benefited from a sensitivity 1,000 times greater than that of IRAS and a spatial resolution 100 times higher.ISO was launched on November 17, 1995, by an Ariane 4, and placed on a highly elliptical geosynchronous orbit. ISO was designed for an 18-month mission but its helium supply lasted 10 months longer allowing observations to continue through April 8, 1998.