KUIPER AIRBORNE OBSERVATORY

a C-141 jet transport aircraft specially instrumented for astronomical observations at high altitudes. Named for the American astronomer Gerard P. Kuiper, it is operated by the Ames Research Center of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, located at Moffett Field, Mountain View, Calif., U.S. The observatory, equipped with a 0.9-metre (36-inch) Cassegrain reflecting telescope, is normally flown at an altitude of 12,500 m (41,000 feet) to measure infrared radiation emitted by planets, stars, and galaxies. Much of the infrared radiation in certain spectral regions is absorbed by water vapour and carbon dioxide in the Earth's lower atmosphere and so cannot be detected by ground-based telescopes. The major discoveries of the Kuiper Airborne Observatory include the rings of the planet Uranus, stars in the process of formation, and new molecules in both interstellar gas and planetary atmospheres.