Westar
ASS address
Tables of Contents
The MOST (Microvariability & Oscillations of STars) project (see Stellar Seismology from Space in 1998 March Equinox edition of Cassiopeia) is still on track to launch Canada's first optical space telescope in late 2001.
The MOST telescope and CCD photometer are intended to detect periodic brightness variations in stars down to a level of a few micromagnitudes. These data will be used for asteroseismology (to probe the internal structures and ages of solar-type and metal-poor stars), for studying the dynamics of Wolf-Rayet winds, and to confirm the presence of close planetary companions around stars like 51 Peg.
The MOST Instrument just passed a Preliminary Design Review (PDR) by the Canadian Space Agency, held at UBC on 21 May 1999. A second PDR for the entire MOST system is being held in Toronto on 21 June 1999. The Project will enter Phase C in early July, to have a Flight Design finalised by February 2000.
Some basic information about the MOST project is available on our Web site. There will be four posters on MOST to be presented at CASCA`99 in Halifax to give a more complete status report.
Jaymie Matthews
MOST Mission Scientist
Westar
ASS address
Tables of Contents