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Odin is an international astronomy and aeronomy mission led by Sweden,
with Canada, France, and Finland as partners. Canada has a 20% share in both
aspects of the mission, with funding provided by
The Canadian Space Agency
and by
The Natural Science and Engineering Research Council.
Dr. Kwok is the Principal Investigator for Astronomy
in Canada.
Odin was launched from Svobodny, Siberia on February 20, 2001.
The duration of the mission
is expected to be 2 years.
Four sub-millimetre bands are accessible, centred on 495, 548, 555
and 571 GHz. The radiometer provides a 17 GHz tuning range about each
of these frequencies and has an instantaneous bandwidth of 1 GHz.
There is also be a fifth band in the millimetre range centred on 119 GHz.
The spatial resolution is ~2 arcmin at sub-millimetre wavelengths and
~9 arc min at 119 GHz. Many molecular and atomic lines of
astronomical interest are accessible for the first time. A major goal
is to study the interstellar and circumstellar oxygen chemistry using
water and oxygen molecules. These species are key to the oxygen budget
but neither is detectable from the ground. Odin observations have an
impact on a wide range of subjects including molecular cloud chemistry,
shock chemistry, star-forming cores, circumstellar envelopes,
interstellar clouds, photodissociation regions, comets, planetary atmospheres,
and extragalactic molecules. The University of Calgary participates both in
the building of the submm receiver payload and in software simulations.
Odin Poster
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