The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), NASA's newest space observatory, is prepared to begin spying on some of the universe's most spectacular phenomena – black holes and neutron stars — potentially revolutionizing our knowledge of the cosmos.
The IXPE satellite, weighing 730 pounds (330 kilograms), was sent into orbit on Dec. 8 aboard a previously flown SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, destined for an equatorial perch where it would stare out into the cosmos, helping to unravel the mysteries of some of its most intriguing denizens.
The $214 million satellite has spent the last month testing its many systems following its successful launch. According to the mission's leader, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland astrophysicist Martin Weisskopf, the mission's three identical detectors (made by Ball Aerospace) will begin a two-year campaign to investigate the polarization of light emerging from these cosmic phenomena.
"I'm pleased to tell you that the commissioning phase has been successfully completed," Weisskopf said at a news briefing at the American Astronomical Society's 239th meeting on Monday (Jan. 10). (AAS). "Tomorrow we'll start taking our first science data."
IXPE is distinguished from its predecessors by its use of imaging X-ray polarimetry. The orientation of light wave oscillations is referred to as polarization. It can tell scientists how X-rays were created and what kind of stuff they passed through.
As a result, scientists will have access to useful information such as the orientation of incoming electric and magnetic forces. Astronomers can extract more information from the X-rays released by astrophysical processes using this information.
The IXPE satellite will provide scientists a new tool to investigate the universe's mysteries. The refrigerator-sized satellite has three identical telescopes that will analyze the polarization of light from cosmic sources including black holes and superdense stellar corpses known as neutron stars. Astronomers will be able to understand the structure and dynamics that fuel these enigmatic cosmic objects thanks to IXPE's observations.
"The launch of IXPE marks a bold and unique step forward for X-ray astronomy," Weisskopf told Space.com before the launch. "IXPE will tell us more about the precise nature of cosmic X-ray sources than we can learn by studying their brightness and color spectrum alone."
Cassiopeia A, a supernova remnant, is IXPE's initial target (Cas a for short). It's the remnants of an exploding star, located around 11,000 light-years from Earth. IXPE will monitor the stellar corpse for three weeks with its three identical telescopes.
