About PUFFINS Telescope Mission:
- A PUFFIN (Polarimetry in the Ultraviolet to Find Features in INterStellar dust) is a SmallSat selected under NASA’s highly competitive Astrophysics Pioneers programme.
- It is a NASA funded mission andis a joint effort between the University of Arizona, McDonald Observatory other scientists.
- It involves sending up a small satellite that will contain a telescope.
- It will study the smallest grains of dust between the stars.
- It will observe them using UV spectropolarimetry.
- It gives scientists insights into the characteristics, presence, and behavior of interstellar dust particles.
- The measurements are supposed to provide information on the particles’ characteristics and how they behave in relation to the magnetic field of the Milky Way galaxy.
- The mission intends to bridge the gaps that exist in existing astronomy studies, especially those concerning the observation of interstellar dust particles using ultraviolet polarisation.
- Interstellar dust refers to particles that exist in the space between the stars.
- These particles have sizes ranging from less than 50 nanometers; therefore, they cannot be detected using the traditional optical or infrared techniques.
