Artist’s rendition of the Odin spacecraft in orbit. Credit: SNSB
Completing its 16th year in orbit, a small Swedish astrophysics and aeronomy satellite named “Odin” has proven that it is still capable of carrying out important observations of space. The spacecraft has lately observed ammonia (NH3) emissions from an astronomical radio source known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A* for short) at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
Odin was launched on February 20, 2001 with the aim of studying the depletion of the ozone layer in the atmosphere and searching for water and oxygen in interstellar space. With a mass of about 250 kg, the spacecraft has dimensions of 2.0 x 1.1 meters (3.8 meters when fully deployed in orbit). The satellite is equipped with an advanced radiometer using a 1...
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