NASA Funds Innovative Telescope to Unravel Mysteries of Interstellar Dust
The University of Arizona has received a significant boost in its astrophysics research endeavors with NASA awarding $20 million to develop PUFFINS, a novel space telescope. Designed to detect polarization in ultraviolet light from distant stars, PUFFINS will aid in understanding how interstellar dust influences starlight as it travels to Earth.
This telescope, named PUFFINS, will embark on a mission to observe around 70 stars, shedding light on the alterations caused by interstellar dust. The University of Arizona leads this venture, marking its second Pioneers mission under NASA’s Astrophysics Pioneers program initiated in 2020. Previously, the university spearheaded the Aspera mission and played a pivotal role in the Pandora mission.
At the heart of the PUFFINS satellite is a specialized telescope just 10 inches across – the size of a large dinner plate – that captures ultraviolet light from distant stars.
SFL Missions Inc./PUFFINS Team
PUFFINS is a collaborative effort among the University of Arizona, McDonald Observatory at The University of Texas at Austin, and an international network of scientists. The telescope is a compact instrument, only 10 inches in diameter, designed to capture ultraviolet light, utilizing a technique called spectropolarimetry, a method not used in space for nearly 30 years.
“PUFFINS will change how we understand the dust between stars,” remarked Ramya Anche, principal investigator and assistant research professor at Steward Observatory. The mission aims to decode the composition, formation, and behavior of the smallest interstellar dust grains, some as minuscule as 50 nanometers, undetectable by optical and infrared telescopes.
These tiny grains align with the galaxy’s magnetic field, acting as polarizing filters for starlight. The study of such polarization is central to understanding these dust grains and has remained an unsolved mystery in interstellar medium physics since 1949.
B-G Andersson, the PUFFINS Science PI and assistant director for research at McDonald Observatory, expressed enthusiasm for the mission, saying, “We’ll be working on fully solving what for 50-plus years was the second-longest-standing mystery of interstellar medium physics.”
PUFFINS is a joint effort between the University of Arizona, McDonald Observatory and a network of early-career and senior scientists from institutions across the world.
Interstellar dust, although constituting only 1% of the Milky Way’s visible mass, plays a significant role across astrophysics. By mapping stars in various environments, such as stellar nurseries and the Magellanic Clouds, PUFFINS will provide insights into the distribution of this dust.
The project benefits from the expertise of Kyle Van Gorkom, deputy principal investigator, who leads the spacecraft interface work. This collaboration is seen as a training ground for future scientists, with students involved from the outset.
“We’re very excited to start from conceptualizing a space telescope, and then to see it all the way through from build to launch to operating in orbit,” Van Gorkom stated.
Scheduled for launch in 2030, PUFFINS will pave the way for NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory, anticipated in the 2040s. Data from PUFFINS are expected to inform the development of future instruments.
The University of Arizona team, featuring scientists like Carlos Vargas, Erika Hamden, and Ewan Douglas, collaborates with partners like Tucson-based Ascending Node Technologies and SFL Missions Inc. in Toronto.
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