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A Long March 2C rocket carrying the Einstein probe satellite will be launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Xichang, southwest China’s Sichuan province, on January 9, 2024.
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A spacecraft designed to search the skies for bursts of X-rays that could help unravel mysterious phenomena related to black holes and star mergers flew this week.
The Einstein probe, named after the famous German-born theoretical physicist, was launched on Tuesday aboard one of China’s Long March 2C rockets, news outlets reported. News release from the European Space Agency.
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, which operates China’s Long March rocket, confirmed the successful launch on the 21st. Social media.
The spacecraft was built as a joint effort involving the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, and the European Space Agency.
According to the ESA, discovering signs of X-ray bursts can help scientists learn more about high-energy processes in the universe, such as supernova explosions, neutron star collisions, and black holes that spew out material after devouring magnetic fields. It is said that there is a possibility of deepening understanding.
X-ray bomb search
The Einstein spacecraft will use two instruments to detect the bursts of X-ray light emitted by these phenomena: the Wide-Field X-ray Telescope (WXT) and the Tracking X-ray Telescope (FXT).
WXT is designed to scan a wide area of the sky looking for X-ray beams. The device is modeled after a lobster’s eye, which has thousands of square holes that focus light in a circular center. Using a similar design for the telescope, WXT can capture phenomena such as: one-tenth ESA said it captured the entire sky in one snapshot.
Once the WXT instrument detects X-rays, the more sensitive FXT instrument is designed to quickly collect more detailed information.
“Thanks to (WXT’s) unique wide line-of-sight, we will be able to capture X-ray light from collisions between neutron stars and determine the source of the gravitational waves detected on Earth,” said ESA’s Einstein spacecraft Eric Courkers. It can be done,” he said. project scientists said in a statement. “Often, once these elusive space-time ripples are recorded, we can’t pinpoint where they came from. Instantly discovering bursts of We will be able to pinpoint its origin.”
The Einstein spacecraft is expected to operate in Earth orbit about 600 kilometers (370 miles) above the ground. The spacecraft is expected to be able to monitor her X-rays across the night sky in just three orbits around the Earth, or approximately every four-and-a-half hours.