The European Space Agency's (ESA) Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) is an astronomical satellite that was operational between November 1995 and May 1998. It operated at wavelengths from 2.5 to 240 µm, in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum. Because the atmosphere acts as an `umbrella' for most infrared wavelengths -- preventing them from reaching the ground -- a space telescope is needed to detect this kind of radiation invisible to the human eye and to optical telescopes.
The ISO satellite essentially consisted of: a large liquid-helium cryostat; a telescope with a 60-cm diameter primary mirror; four scientific instruments and the service module. It was designed and constructed under ESA responsibility by a European industrial consortium led by Aerospatiale (F, now Alcatel), and launched by an Ariane IV rocket on 17 November 1995. Scientific observations were performed between February 1996 and April 1998, and communications with the satellite were terminated on 16 May 1998. All of the scientific goals motivating the mission's adoption were surpassed. ISO made during its lifetime more than 30000 dedicated individual observations of all kind of astronomical objects, ranging from our own solar system out to the most distant galaxies. These observations were made with a wide variety of spectral and spatial resolving powers. The resulting database provides a treasure of information for further astronomical research.
The products of the ISO mission are available through the ISO
Data Archive (IDA) from
The ISO Handbook (Volumes I to V) is, together with the ISO Data Archive, part of the legacy of the ISO Mission. It is a reference document with general information about the mission, the satellite, the instruments and the data products of the final ISO Archive: