Archive for October 21, 2016

First observations made with deep-space water-hunting instrument

A team of astronomers has made the first observations with a cutting-edge water-hunting instrument. The instrument, known as the Swedish–ESO PI receiver for APEX (SEPIA), is not only suited for identifying signatures of water and other molecules in the Milky Way but also in other galaxies, and it may even be capable of detecting ancient water dating back to the early Universe.

sepia-water-hunting-instrument-1SEPIA is in essence a highly-sensitive spectrograph calibrated to search for a particular light wavelength (between 1.4 – 1.9 mm) that indicates the presence of water. Mounted aboard the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) telescope, the delicate sensors must be cooled to a temperature only slightly above absolute zero in order to function optimally. Read more