China launched the Einstein probe on Tuesday (January 9) to begin a mission to observe the X-ray sky.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) probe will search for high-energy light from the most powerful objects and events in the universe, including the feeding of black holes, collisions of neutron stars, and supernovae, which mark the explosive death of massive stars. .
The Einstein probe took to the skies at 2:03 a.m. (7:03 p.m. Japan time, 3:03 p.m. local time) on Tuesday atop a Long March 2C rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The European Space Agency (ESA) and Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) are collaborating with China on this mission.
“I would like to congratulate our colleagues at CAS on the successful launch of an innovative mission that will make major advances in the field of X-ray astronomy,” ESA Scientific Director Carol Mandel said in a statement. Ta. “At ESA, we value international cooperation to advance science and improve our understanding of the universe. We wish the Einstein exploration team every success in their mission.”
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After liftoff, the Einstein spacecraft reached an altitude of approximately 370 miles (600 kilometers). The spacecraft currently orbits the Earth approximately once every 96 minutes in an orbit tilted 29 degrees.
This will allow it to monitor nearly the entire night sky over Earth in just three orbits over the planned three-year mission period, and possibly even longer.
However, the spacecraft is not yet ready to conduct scientific research. Over the next six months, the mission team will test and calibrate two major instruments on the spacecraft. The Wide Field X-ray Telescope (WXT) captures the vast universe with a lens shaped like a lobster’s eye, and the Tracking X-ray Telescope (FXT) zooms in. Discover key targets with this wide field of view.
This strategy would allow the Einstein probe to detect a blast of high-energy radiation that could be emitted by the collision of two neutron stars, or from a black hole that voraciously eats matter such as gas and dust. A new source of X-rays will be discovered in the night sky. Also from stars and supernova explosions.
By discovering these X-ray bursts, the Einstein spacecraft will provide data that will teach scientists more about the unique physics that occur around the most powerful and violent cosmic events.
“We look forward to the discoveries that the Einstein spacecraft will enable,” ESA Einstein Mission Project Scientist Eric Kulkers said in the same statement.
“Thanks to its unique wide line of sight, it will be able to capture the X-ray light from collisions between neutron stars and determine the source of the gravitational waves detected on Earth,” Kulkars added. “When these elusive space-time ripples are recorded, it is often impossible to pinpoint where they came from. Instantly discovering bursts of X-rays can help explain many gravitational wave phenomena We will be able to pinpoint its origin.”