With all that man has yet to learn about the world beyond his own, much that he now knows can be traced back to a polish astronomer born 500 years ago. His name Nicolas Copernicus, the father of modern astronomy, who formulated the concept that the moon and Earth revolve around the sun, rather than vice versa. Nearly five centuries later, his name has been memorialized in a new space telescope designed by scientists at Princeton University in the United States and University College in London. The Princeton contribution was a large reflecting telescope for detecting invisible ultraviolet radiation. University College designed a new system for monitoring sources of X-ray energy in outer space. music music Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Copernicus was launched from Cape Kennedy in Florida, on August 21st, 1972. Enclosed in a tip of an Atlas Centaur rocket, it was the largest and most complex unmanned spacecraft ever sent into orbit from the United States. Scientists and dignitaries from Poland and England attended the night time launch. music From the Earth an astronomer can see millions of lightyears away, but only in the range of visible light. Cut off from him by Earth’s atmosphere, are the ultraviolet, infrared, gamma and X-rays, containing secrets of how the Universe was born in the darkest reaches of time and space. Five hundred miles above the atmosphere, conditions are ideal for probing these mysteries. That is where Copernicus is now on full-time duty using its solar panels for electric power to find and lock on to many stars, and dust between the stars, where stars are born. Ground stations around the world receive transmissions from Copernicus and relay them to the United States. Astronomers everywhere are pleased with the early results. Material needed to form new stars has been found where none was thought to exist. At least one star system is rotating at a speed that increases increases almost daily. Other early observations remain to be interpreted as the eye of the new Copernicus continues its studies of invisible clues to the creation of the Universe. music Produced and Written by Robert Foster music film editor Dominick Ruggiero Narrator Phil Tonken Executive producers Jerry Berger and Jack Gaines