Presemtation of Zodiacal Light instrument aboard the D2B astronomical satellite

Abstract

The french astronomical satellite D2B is to be launched on September 1975. During the dial of the orbit, one axis of the satellite points to the Sun, with an accuracy of ± 30 arcmin; during the night of the orbit, the satellite keeps this stabilization by gyroscopic effect. The perpendicular axes -one of them is the optical axis of the Z.L. (Zodiacal Light) instrument- roll around the Earth-Sun direction, once every 4 minutes. Because of the Earth's motion around the Sun, the celestrial sphere will be scanned along ecliptic meridians, every orbits; the complete exploration of the sky will be achieved after six months. The Z.L. instrument is a photometer analyzing galactic and zodiacal fluxes, in the range γγ 3100-750, in five spectral intervals 200–500 wide, with a field of 2.8°∟ .For a single scan, the limit of detection by the instrument will be the 6th visual magnitude for early-type stars (0-B).