The Development of UAT Rocket Instrumentation for X-ray Astronomy

Abstract

The Universities of Adelaide and Tasmania (UAT) have now collaborated in the preparation of four experiments on British Skylark rockets. Two independent X-ray detectors of total sensitive area 40 cm2 were flown on each of two rocket flights launched in April, 1967. The most significant result of these measurements was the discovery of Cen XR-2 and the measurement of the variation in its intensity and spectrum. The third flight, launched in December 1967, carried three X-ray detectors of total area 140 cm2. One of the main results from this flight, evidence for a new X-ray source at high galactic latitude, will be presented in the following paper.