Spectroradiometry with Space Telescopes

TL;DR

This paper reviews methods for calibrating space telescopes across various spectral ranges, emphasizing laboratory standards and recent initiatives like calibration rockets to ensure measurement accuracy in astronomy.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of calibration techniques for space telescopes from X-ray to infrared, highlighting recent developments and future plans for traceable calibration methods.

Findings

Calibration rockets are being developed for visible and infrared ranges.

Laboratory calibration traceability is crucial for accurate space telescope measurements.

A survey covers calibration practices across multiple spectral domains.

Abstract

Radiometry has been of fundamental importance in astronomy from the early beginnings. In this review, we provide an overview of how to achieve a valid laboratory calibration of space telescopes and discuss ways to reliably extend this calibration to the spectroscopic telescope's performance in space. Recently, the quest for independent calibrations traceable to laboratory standards has become a well-supported aim and has led to plans for launching calibration rockets for the visible and infrared spectral range. A survey of the calibration of instruments observing from the X-ray to the infrared spectral domains rounds off this review.