Welcome to the Observer Science Institute (OScI) Tumblr Blog!
Are you interested in astronomy and images of the universe you don’t see? You’re in the right place!
Since OScI’s formation in 1981, we’ve been dedicated to working with government space agencies (such as NASA!) to propel our knowledge of the cosmos and manage and retrieve data from Observers. Since the initial creation of the institute, first located at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, we’ve expanded into multiple branches across the US and even throughout Europe. As a whole, we have managed over 90 Observers.
This account is dedicated to education, images, and news regarding Observers such as Hubble, Webb, and soon, Roman.
What are Observers?
Observers are beings whose jobs are to view the universe in-depth so that we can learn a little more about what’s out there, and each one is different! Every Observer has a specified mission and an optimized set of wavelengths they operate in, whether that be discovering exoplanets in visible light, studying how the early universe worked in infrared, or tracking high-energy bursts in gamma rays.
Observers were not planned, and in fact, were first proposed to outwardly appear as telescopes! However, during the Cold War, development began as an impromptu test of both telescope instruments and the hurdles of human spaceflight during the Cold War. The first successful Observer was OAO-2 (also known as Stargazer), launched in 1968 by NASA. Development of this technology was continued, and massive amounts of revolutionary data were sent back, but with an unexpected side effect: the Observers had gained the ability to think and feel for themselves. Since then, they have been developed further to become what you know them as now.
It was not until the founding of OScI that the name Observer officially caught on, but we’re proud to have contributed to that!
Stay tuned for our next post!