Revised: Nov. 2007

Non-optical astronomy is the study of the sky through forms of energy and particles that we cannot see. These forms of energy include radio and submillimeter waves, infrared and ultraviolet light, x-rays, and gamma rays. Recently, scientists have begun to look at the cosmos by detecting gravitons, the particles that transmit gravity in the same way that photons transmit light, and neutrinos, all-but-ghostly particles produced by the reactions at the hearts of stars and atomic bombs and reactors. Additionally, observations of cosmic rays, subatomic particles spat from the stars, can shed light on the operations of the universe. Since many of these particles and energies are are hard to detect on the Earth, NASA satellites play an important role in non-optical astronomy. This bibliography is an overview of current NASA non-optical astronomical missions and other American resources in this field.

All items are available at the Headquarters Library, except as noted. NASA Headquarters employees and contractors: call (358-0172) or email Library@hq.nasa.gov for information on borrowing or in-library use of any of these items. Members of the public, contact your Local Library for the availibilty of these items. NASA Headquarters employees can request additional materials or research on this topic. The Library welcomes your comments or suggestions about this webpage.

Books

Aschenbach, Bernd, Hermann-Michael Hahn, and Joachim Trümper. The Invisible Sky: ROSAT and the Age of X-ray Astronomy, translated by Helmut Jenkner. New York, NY: Copernicus, 1998.

QB472 .A83 I58 1998 BOOKSTACKS

 

Brumby, Steven P. (ed.). Small Missions for Energetic Astrophysics: Ultraviolet to Gamma-ray. Melville, NY: American Institute of Physics, 1999.

QB495 .S58 1999 BOOKSTACKS

 

Campbell, Bruce A. Radar Remote Sensing of Planetary Surfaces. Cambridge, UK; New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

QB603 .S95 C36 2002 BOOKSTACKS

 

Davies, John Keith. Astronomy from Space: The Design and Operation of Orbiting Observatories. Chichester, UK; New York, NY: Wiley, 1997.

QB495 .S58 1999 BOOKSTACKS

 

Friedlander, Michael W. A Thin Cosmic Rain: Particles from Outer Space. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000.

QC485 .F75 2000 BOOKSTACKS

 

Heywood, John. Radio Astronomy and How to Build Your Own Telescope. New York, NY: Arc Books, 1964.

QB475 .H47 1963 BOOKSTACKS

 

Leverington, David. New Cosmic Horizons: Space Astronomy from the V2 to the Hubble Space Telescope. Cambridge, UK; New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

QB136 .L48 2000 BOOKSTACKS

 

Malphrus, Benjamin K. The History of Radio Astronomy and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory: Evolution Toward Big Science. Malabar, FL: Krieger Pub., 1996.

QB475 .A25 M35 1996 BOOKSTACKS

 

National Research Council. Committee on the Physics of the Universe. Connecting Quarks with the Cosmos: Eleven Science Questions for the New Century. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2003.

QB464 .Q83 2003 BOOKSTACKS

 

__________. Neutrino Facilities Assessment Committee. Neutrinos and Beyond: New Windows on Nature. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2003.

QB464.2 .N48 2003 BOOKSTACKS

 

Rieke, George Henry. The Last of the Great Observatories: Spitzer and the Era of Faster, Better, Cheaper at NASA. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 2006.

QB500.267 .S65 2006 BOOKSTACKS

 

Tucker, Wallace H., and Karen Tucker. Revealing the Universe: The Making of the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001.

QB472 .T82 2001 BOOKSTACKS

Internet Resources

Davis, Andrew. Advanced Composition Explorer. 2 Oct. 2006. [23 Nov. 2007].

http://www.srl.caltech.edu/ACE/

 

Dunbar, Brian. Astro-E2/Suzaku. 9 Oct. 2007 [23 Nov. 2007].

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/astro-e2/main/index.html

 

__________. Chandra X-ray Observatory. 30 Oct. 2007 [23 Nov. 2007].

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/main/index.html

 

__________. Galaxy Evolution Explorer. 14 Nov. 2007 [23 Nov. 2007].

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/galex/index.html

 

__________. Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope. 16 Nov. 2007 [23 Nov. 2007].

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/main/index.html

 

__________. Spitzer Space Telescope. 20 Nov. 2007 [23 Nov. 2007].

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/main/index.html

 

__________. Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy. 16 Nov. 2007 [23 Nov. 2007].

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/SOFIA/index.html

 

__________. Swift. 26 June 2007 [23 Nov. 2007].

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/swift/main/index.html

 

Hinshaw, Gary F. Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. 15 May 2007. [23 Nov. 2007].

http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.html

 

Hurwitz, Mark. Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer. Dec. 2005 [23 Nov. 2007].

http://chips.ssl.berkeley.edu/chips.html

 

MIT. High Energy Transient Explorer. 28 March 2007 Dec. 2005 [23 Nov. 2007].

http://space.mit.edu/HETE/

 

Newman, Phil. Beyond Einstein. 2006 [23 Nov. 2007].

http://universe.nasa.gov/

 

__________. High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center. 5 Nov. 2007 [26 Nov. 2007].

http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/

 

__________. Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. 19 Oct. 2007 [23 Nov. 2007].

http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/xte/xte_1st.html

 

Schultz, Alfred B. Astrophysics at the National Space Science Data Center. 13 Nov. 2007 [26 Nov. 2007].

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/astro/

 

Schumaker, Bonnie. Laser Interferometer Space Antenna. 22 May 2007 [23 Nov. 2007].

http://lisa.jpl.nasa.gov/

Arecibo Observatory. 2004 [23 Nov. 2007].

http://www.naic.edu/

 

Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array. 1 Aug. 2007 [23 Nov. 2007].

http://www.alma.nrao.edu/

 

IceCube Neutrino Detector. 3 Nov. 2007 [23 Nov. 2007].

http://icecube.wisc.edu/

 

Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. 30 April 2002 [23 Nov. 2007].

http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/

 

LSU Gravitational Wave Experiment. 2005 [23 Nov. 2007].

http://gravity.phys.lsu.edu/

 

National Radio Astronomy Observatory. 19 Nov. 2007 [23 Nov. 2007].

http://www.nrao.edu/

 

Submillimeter Array. 10 Sept. 2007. [23 Nov. 2007].

http://sma-www.cfa.harvard.edu/index.html