Sky surveys in the ultraviolet

Abstract

Instrumentation, results, and future prospects for sky surveys at UV wavelengths inaccessible from the ground are reviewed. Detectors and optical materials, coatings, and systems for UV surveys are discussed, previously performed UV sky surveys are recounted, and some specific results of these surveys are examined. The rationale for UV surveys is explained, and the detectors and instrumentation considered for future UV surveys are described. It is noted that for the wavelength range from 1000 to 2000 A, detectors and instrumentation are already available to provide an all-sky UV survey of moderate resolution (10 to 30 arcsec) and moderate sensitivity (reaching hot stars as faint as 18th visual magnitude in direct imagery and 11th magnitude spectrographically with 2-A resolution).