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With all

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that man has yet to learn about the world beyond his own,

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much that he now knows can be traced back to a polish astronomer

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born 500 years ago. His name

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Nicolas Copernicus, the father of modern astronomy,

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who formulated the concept that the moon and Earth revolve around the sun,

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rather than vice versa.

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Nearly five centuries later, his name has been

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memorialized in a new space telescope designed by

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scientists at Princeton University in the United States and University College

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in London. The Princeton contribution was a large

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reflecting telescope for detecting invisible ultraviolet radiation.

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University College designed a new

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system for monitoring sources of X-ray energy in outer space.

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music

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music

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Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Copernicus was launched from Cape Kennedy in Florida,

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on August 21st, 1972.

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Enclosed in a tip of an Atlas Centaur rocket, it was the largest and most complex

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unmanned spacecraft ever sent into orbit from the United States.

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Scientists and dignitaries from Poland and England attended

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the night time launch.

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music

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From the Earth an astronomer can see millions of

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lightyears away, but only in the range of visible light.

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Cut off from him by Earth’s atmosphere, are the ultraviolet,

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infrared, gamma and X-rays, containing

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secrets of how the Universe was born in the darkest reaches of time

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and space. Five hundred

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miles above the atmosphere, conditions are ideal for probing

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these mysteries. That is where Copernicus is now on full-time

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duty using its solar panels for electric power

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to find and lock on to many stars, and dust between the stars,

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where stars are born.

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Ground stations around the world receive transmissions from Copernicus

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and relay them to the United States. Astronomers everywhere are pleased

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with the early results. Material needed to form new stars

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has been found where none was thought to exist.

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At least one star system is rotating at a speed that

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increases almost daily. Other early observations remain to be

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interpreted as the eye of the new Copernicus

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continues its studies of invisible clues to the creation of the Universe.

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music

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Produced and Written

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by Robert Foster

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film editor Dominick Ruggiero

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Narrator Phil Tonken

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Executive producers Jerry Berger and Jack Gaines