SpaceX’s SpaceX Falcon 9 launches from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:00 CET. About half an hour after launch, the IXPE telescope detached successfully. Its orbit is about 540 km in height.
This morning at 07:00 CET, the Falcon 9 launch vehicle lifted off from the KSC spaceport after 33 minutes and 22 seconds, the IXPE X-ray Space Telescope detached. Its orbit is about 540 km in height and has a slope of 0 degrees (this is not a typo) to the equator. pic.twitter.com/NkhMSLC42c
– Michel Vaclavic (@Kosmo_Michal) December 9, 2021
This is a project of NASA in cooperation with the Italian Space Agency (ASI), but the scientific contribution is also Czech. Michal Dovciak, Deputy Director of the Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, leads an international team of about 60 scientists, responsible for one science topic for the mission: “The Accumulation of Stellar Black Holes.”
Pavel Suchan, press secretary for ASCR’s Astronomical Institute, told the news that “Michel Dovciak is a world-renowned expert on black holes.”
Modern X-ray binoculars
The observatory itself has three state-of-the-art X-ray telescopes to observe the polarization of X-rays. “This is one of the most advanced X-ray observatories that will mainly examine neutron stars and black holes in the distant regions of space,” Sushan said.
The research will focus on exotic space objects, not only black holes and neutron stars, but also pulsars, magnetospheres, supernova remnants, quasars, and active galactic cores, according to a report on the Czech Astronomical Society (ČAS) website.
These objects will be examined with the X-rays they emit, according to NASA in its statement.
After reaching its orbit, the IXPE satellite had to deploy its four-meter-long extended arm, which holds three X-ray mirror modules. Their job will be to direct the X-rays to three sensitive detectors throughout the body of the device.
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