How is the X-ray telescope that NASA and Japan will launch to explore the universe?

trying to open a new window on the universe, a pot and the Japanese space agency JAXA A rocket will be launched on August 25 with New space telescope.

It comes to XRISM (imaging and X-ray spectroscopy mission), New astronomical satellite that Observing plasmas in stars and galaxies With a new generation of spectral imaging techniques X rayWhich will work to uncover the mysteries related to the formation of the universe.

XRISM will use its main tool called Solve To study the farthest limits of the universe by means of spectroscopy. Their findings will complement those of his NASA James Webb Space Telescope, Provide a richer understanding of cosmic phenomena by studying the hottest regions of the universe, the largest structures, and the objects with the strongest gravity.

Led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and in collaboration with NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and Canada, the XRISM program will monitor these extreme cosmic phenomena using Spectral analysisthe study of how light and matter interact.

“I think we’re all excited about the beautiful images we get from missions like NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope,” said Sophia Roberts, a NASA specialist. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Accurate calorimeter spectrometer Solve create spectra, and measures the intensity of light across a range of energies, X-rays have energies from 400 to 12,000 MeV (for comparison, visible light has energies from 2 to 3 MeV).

To do this, solve It measures the small changes in temperatures generated When the X-rays reach their detector which has dimensions of 6 x 6 pixels. To assess this small increase and determine the energy of the X-rays, the detector must be cooled to a fraction of a degree above absolute zero.

The device reaches operating temperature after a multi-stage mechanical cooling process inside a refrigerator-sized container of liquid helium.

“Solve It will give us a new look at some of the most active objects in the universe, including black holesAnd galaxy clusters and the effects of stellar explosions. “We will learn more about how they behave and what they do with the data the mission collects after launch,” said Richard Kelly, principal investigator for NASA XRISM at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

By collecting thousands or even millions of X-rays from a cosmic source, Solve It can measure high-resolution body spectra. Spectra are measurements of the intensity of light over a range of energies. A prism scatters visible light in its various energies, which we know better as the colors of the rainbow.

Scientists used the prism in early spectrometers To look for spectral lines, which are produced when atoms or molecules absorb or emit energy.

Now experts use spectrometers, tuned to all kinds of light, to learn about the physical states, motions, and compositions of cosmic bodies. Solve It will perform X-ray spectroscopy with energies ranging from 400 to 12,000 eV, Measure the energies of individual X-rays to form a spectrum.

“The spectra XRISM collects will be the most detailed we’ve ever seen for some of the phenomena we’ll monitor,” said Brian Williams, NASA’s XRISM project scientist at Goddard. “The mission will provide us with information on one of the hardest places to study, Such as the internal structures of neutron stars, the near-light-velocity jets of particles fueled by black holes in active galaxies.

Another important tool, developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, is called Xtend. This will give XRISM one of the largest fields of view ever X-ray imaging satellite that have flown so far, spotting an area nearly 60% larger than the average apparent size of the full moon. Solve And Xtend is built on two X-ray mirror arrays Identical, developed at Goddard.

Solve It will help astronomers learn more about the formation and motion of extremely hot gas within galaxy clusters, jets of near-lightspeed particles fueled by black holes in active galaxies, and other cosmic mysteries.

The Webb telescope captures similar spectra, but for infrared light. Webb’s spectra revealed the composition of gas near active black holes and mapped the movement of this matter toward or away from the viewer. Tool data Solve of XRISM will do the same at higher energies, helping to paint a more complete picture of these things.

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