X-ray Archives

October 24, 2024October 24, 2024 by Mark Thompson

Measuring How Much Dust Spacecraft Kick Up When they Land

The instrument called Radar Interferometry For Landing Ejecta set up inside of a vacuum chamber to simulate the atmosphere in space. Credit : University of Illinois

The arrival of spacecraft on alien worlds uses a number of different techniques from giant air bags to parachutes and small rockets. The use of rockets can pose a problem to onboard technology though as the dust kicked up can effect sensors and cameras and the landing site can be disturbed in the process. A team of researchers have developed a new instrument that can measure the dust that is kicked up on landing to inform future instrument design.

October 9, 2024October 9, 2024 by Mark Thompson

NASA Announces a New Class of Space Missions: Probe Explorers

NASA has sent a whole host of spacecraft across the Solar System and even beyond. They range from crewed ships to orbit and to the Moon to robotic explorers. Among them are a range of mission classes from Flagships to Discovery Class programs. Now a new category has been announced: Probe Explorers. This new category will fill the gap between Flagship and smaller missions. Among them are two proposed missions; the Advanced X-ray Imaging Satellite and the Probe Far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics.

August 26, 2024August 26, 2024 by Mark Thompson

X-Ray Telescopes Could Study Exoplanets Too

Exoplanets are often discovered using the transit method (over three quarters of those discovered have been found this way.) The same transit technique can be used to study them, often revealing detail about their atmosphere. The observations are typically made in visible light or infrared but a new paper suggests X-rays may be useful too. Stellar wind interactions with the planet’s atmosphere for example would lead to X-ray emissions revealing information about the atmosphere. As we further our exploration of exoplanets we develop our understanding of our own Solar System and ultimately, the origins of life in the Universe.

July 27, 2024July 27, 2024 by Mark Thompson

Update your Desktop Wallpaper with 25 New Images from Chandra

This collection of images was released to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Chandra. Image credit: NASA / CXC / SAO.

It’s not always possible to observe the night sky from the surface of the Earth. The blocking effects of the atmosphere mean we sometimes need to put telescopes out into space. The Chandra X-Ray Observatory is one such telescopes and it has just completed its 25th year of observations. To celebrate, NASA have just released 25 never-before-seen images of various celestial objects in x-rays. The collection includes images showing the region around black holes, giant clouds of hot gas and extreme magnetic fields. Sadly though, NASA is planning on shutting down the mission to save budget so best to enjoy the images while you can.

May 21, 2024May 21, 2024 by Andy Tomaswick

After Swirling Around a Black Hole, Matter Just Falls Straight In

On the left, an optical image from the Digitized Sky Survey shows Cygnus X-1, outlined in a red box. Cygnus X-1 is located near large active regions of star formation in the Milky Way, as seen in this image that spans some 700 light years across. An artist's illustration on the right depicts what astronomers think is happening within the Cygnus X-1 system. Cygnus X-1 is a so-called stellar-mass black hole, a class of black holes that comes from the collapse of a massive star. New studies with data from Chandra and several other telescopes have determined the black hole's spin, mass, and distance with unprecedented accuracy.

The physics surrounding black holes is just plain weird. A gravitational well so strong that not even light can escape can do some pretty strange things to normal matter. Over the decades, plenty of theories have been put forward about what those strange things might be. And now, a new paper from physicists at the University of Oxford has proved that, once again, Einstein’s theory of gravity was right.

April 29, 2024April 29, 2024 by Mark Thompson

First Light from Einstein Probe: A Supernova Remnant

On 9 January 2024, the Einstein probe was launched, its mission to study the night sky in X-rays. The first image from the probe that explores the Universe in these energetic wavelengths has just been released. It shows Puppis A, the supernova remnant from a massive star that exploded 4,000 years ago. The image showed the expanding cloud of ejecta from the explosion but now, Einstein will continue to scan the skies for other X-ray events.

March 31, 2024March 31, 2024 by Mark Thompson

It Takes a Supercomputer to Properly Simulate a Neutron Star’s Surface

Neutron stars, the remains of massive stars that have imploded and gone supernova at the end of their life, can still create massive flares. These incredible bursts of energy release X-rays that propagate through space. It is a complex process to simulate but astronomers have turned to a supercomputer to help. Modelling the twisting magnetic fields, the interaction with gas and dust, the surface of flaring neutron stars has been revealed in incredible 3D.

March 20, 2024March 20, 2024 by Mark Thompson

NASA is Planning to Shut Down One of the Great Observatories to Save Money

The US Government budget announcement in March left NASA with two billion dollars less than it asked for. The weeks that followed have left NASA with some difficult decisions forcing cuts across the agency. There will be a number of cuts across the agency but one recent decision came as quite a shock to the scientific community. NASA have just announced they are no longer going to support the Chandra X-Ray Observatory which has been operational since 1999 and made countless discoveries.

January 10, 2024January 10, 2024 by Mark Thompson

Chinese Rocket Lofts the Einstein Probe and its “Lobster Eyes”

Any astronomical instrument dubbed “Lobster Eyes” is bound to grab attention. It’s actually unlike scientists to give anything creative names, take the big red coloured storm on Jupiter which resembles a spot…aka the Great Red Spot! Lobster Eyes is the name adtoped by the X-ray telescope that just been launched from China and will scan the sky looking for X-rays coming from high-energy transients.

October 27, 2023October 27, 2023 by Brian Koberlein

The Milky Way's Black Hole is Spinning as Fast as it Can

Simulation of glowing gas around a spinningblack hole. Credit: Chris White, Princeton University

Pick any object in the Universe, and it is probably spinning. Asteroids tumble end over end, planets and moons rotate on their axes, and even black holes spin. And for everything that spins, there is a maximum rate at which it can rotate. The black hole in our galaxy is spinning at nearly that maximum rate.