The Sail carried a hard X-ray experiment from UCSD, with a single thin NaI(Tl) scintillation crystal plus phototube enclosed in a howitzer-shaped CsI(Tl) anti-coincidence shield. The energy resolution was 45% at 30 keV. The instrument operated from 7.7 to 210 keV with 6 channels. The Principal Investigator (PI) was Prof. Laurence E. Peterson of UCSD. Also in the wheel was a cosmic gamma-ray (>50 MeV) sky survey instrument contributed by MIT, with PI Prof. William L. Kraushaar.
OSO-3 obtained extensive hard X-ray observations of solar flares, the cosmic diffuse X-ray background, and multiple observations of Scorpius X-1, the first observation of an extrasolar X-ray source by an observatory satellite.3456
The MIT gamma-ray instrument obtained the first identification of high-energy cosmic gamma rays emanating from both galactic and extra-galactic sources.7
The content of this article was adapted and expanded from NASA's HEASARC: Observatories OSO 3 [2] and NASA's National Space Science Data Center: OSO 3 [3] (Public Domain)
NASA GSFC X-ray Astronomy Satellites and Missions https://web.archive.org/web/19980224154422/http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/sats_n_data/xray_missions.html ↩
[1] GSFC HEASARC "The Third Orbiting Solar Observatory (OSO-3)" https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/missions/oso3.html ↩
Peterson, Laurence E.; Jacobson, Allan S.; Pelling, R. M. (January 24, 1966). "Spectrum of Crab Nebula X Rays to 120 keV". Physical Review Letters. 16 (4). American Physical Society (APS): 142–144. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.16.142. hdl:2060/19660015394. ISSN 0031-9007. /wiki/Doi_(identifier) ↩
Peterson, Laurence E.; Jacobson, Allan S. (1966). "The Spectrum of Scorpius XR-1 to 50 KEV". The Astrophysical Journal. 145. American Astronomical Society: 962. Bibcode:1966ApJ...145..962P. doi:10.1086/148848. ISSN 0004-637X. https://doi.org/10.1086%2F148848 ↩
Hudson, Hugh S.; Peterson, Laurence E.; Schwartz, Daniel A. (1970). "Simultaneous X-Ray and Optical Observations of SCO X-1 Flares". The Astrophysical Journal. 159. American Astronomical Society: L51. Bibcode:1970ApJ...159L..51H. doi:10.1086/180476. ISSN 0004-637X. /wiki/Bibcode_(identifier) ↩
Pelling, R. M. 1971, Ph.D. dissertation thesis, University of California at San Diego ↩
Kraushaar, W. L.; Clark, G. W.; Garmire, G. P.; Borken, R.; Higbie, P.; Leong, V.; Thorsos, T. (1972). "High-Energy Cosmic Gamma-Ray Observations from the OSO-3 Satellite". The Astrophysical Journal. 177. American Astronomical Society: 341-363. Bibcode:1972ApJ...177..341K. doi:10.1086/151713. ISSN 0004-637X. /w/index.php?title=William_L._Kraushaar&action=edit&redlink=1 ↩