Observing Photons in Space

This book provides a comprehensive review of experimental space astronomy. It is an extensively updated and modernised version of the 2nd edition of this book which was published in 2013. The number of astronomers whose knowledge and interest are concentrated on interpreting observations has grown substantially in the past decades; yet, the number of scientists who are familiar with and capable of dealing with the complexities of instrumentation has dwindled. All of the authors of this work are leading, experienced experts and practitioners who have designed, built, tested, calibrated, launched and operated advanced observing equipment for space astronomy. This book contains concise information on the history of the field supported by appropriate references. Scientists working in other fields will be able to obtain a quick overview of the salient issues of observing photons in any one of the various energy, wavelength or frequency ranges accessible in space. This book was written with the intention of being accessible to advanced undergraduate and graduate students.