Studying stars and planetary objects in the ultraviolet can reveal a tremendous amount about the way our universe works. However, developing the instruments to study them is not a trivial thing to do. In this episode, I chat with Dr. Paul Scowen about the design of UV optical systems and how these are also driven by spacecraft interfaces, how these instruments are tested and calibrated, and challenges that are faced in collecting data in the UV.

Dr. Scowen is a research professor at Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration, where his work is centered around star and planet formation in massive stellar environments as well as optical engineering for instruments operating in the UV spectrum.

Additional resources:

HabEx concept paper: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/habex/pdf/HabEx-Final-Report-Public-Release-LINKED-0924.pdf

SPARCS: https://sese.asu.edu/research/sparcs