Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Explanation: X-ray astronomy entered a golden age earlier this month with the successful launch of the X-ray Multi-Mirror (XMM) satellite. XMM's three huge telescope barrels each hold 58 concentric cylindrical mirrors, together totaling a surface area rivaling a tennis court. Each mirror has been gold plated to less than one-millimetre thickness to reflect normally penetrating X-rays. ESA's XMM joins NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory as leading observatories in X-ray astronomy. The XMM satellite also carries a small optical and ultraviolet telescope. XMM's unusually elliptical orbit around the Earth peaks nearly one-third of the way to the Moon. XMM's observing program during its planned two-year mission includes monitoring the hot surroundings of black holes, the fiery regions surrounding the centres of galaxies, the mysterious X-ray background light that appears to come from all directions, and the hot gas that glows between galaxies and stars.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Technical Rep.:
Jay Norris.
Specific rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA/
GSFC
&
Michigan Tech. U.