Madrid, 28 (European Press)
The Russian-German astrophysical observatory Spektr-RG (Spectrum Roentgen Gamma), launched in 2019, has completed half its data set to create a map of X-ray sources across the sky.
Specifically, it has scanned the galaxy for the fourth time and is already embarking on the fifth of eight planned surveys, the mission’s scientific leader, Academician Rashid Sunyaev, announced, according to Roscosmos.
With the capture of 600 million photons, the observatory’s activity has already made it possible to build an accurate map containing more than a million quasars and twenty thousand massive galaxy clusters located at cosmic distances, in both hemispheres.
This map shows more than three hundred thousand stars in our coronal galaxy that are as hot as the Sun, but hundreds and thousands of times brighter in X-rays.
Within two years, the eighth survey of the sky is due to be completed, which will double the exposure time of the observed objects and collect more than three billion photons. This will significantly increase the sensitivity of the map and the number of open sources on it.
The Spektr-RG Observatory includes two unique mirror X-ray telescopes. The first is ART-XC named after MN Pavlinsky, which was created in Russia, and eROSITA, which was created in Germany.
