![]() ![]() “Astro-E2 will showcase an entirely new technology,” says Anne Kinney, director of the Universe Division in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. The satellite’s primary instrument is a high-resolution X-ray Spectrometer (XRS) developed jointly by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS). When Japan’s new Astro-E2 X-ray observatory blasts into space this month, it will carry a pioneering detector. Thanks to the objects’ close alignment, astronomers can glimpse a galaxy as it was when the universe was only 12 percent of its present age. The lensing galaxy lies about 8 billion light-years away and magnifies the background galaxy, which is 12 billion light-years away, almost 13 times. The more distant object is a compact galaxy less than 1/6 this size, brimming with bright clusters from a recent burst of star formation. In the case of FOR J0332-3557, Cabanac’s team reports in the June III Astronomy & Astrophysics, the lensing galaxy seems to be an isolated, inactive elliptical perhaps 40,000 light-years across with a mass of 1 trillion Suns. Such gravitational lensing allows astronomers to “weigh” the galaxy responsible for the mirage, and serves as a cosmic magnifying glass that lets astronomers see details in objects otherwise beyond the reach of current telescopes. The new cosmic ring, dubbed FOR J0332-3557, arcs through 75 percent of a circle and lies in the southern constellation Fornax. If the alignment is precise enough, the distant galaxy’s image warps into a complete ring. Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, Remi Cabanac of Chile’s Pontifical Catholic University in Santiago, Chile, and his European colleagues have found the most distant Einstein ring known.Īn Einstein ring is a kind of cosmic mirage in which gravity from a foreground galaxy distorts light from a background galaxy into an arc. Key targets for Suzaku include black holes, the million-degree gas from exploded stars, and gas between stars and galaxies. This highly anticipated mission complements NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton spacecraft. “Suzaku will fill a vital gap in our understanding of the X-ray universe,” says Goddard’s Richard Kelley, principal investigator for the U.S. (For more on the XRS, see the July 1 entry below). The key instrument is its X-ray Spectrometer (XRS), a pioneering detector capable of sensing the heat of individual X-ray photons. A collaboration among Japanese universities and institutions and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, the satellite is a reflight of Astro-E, which was lost February 2000 when its rocket failed to reach orbit. ![]() Suzaku is a legendary red bird that brings good fortune and guards against evil. Japan has given most of its X-ray satellites avian monikers. To hear audio of Neil Armstrong as he stepped onto the Moon, click here.īecause JAXA christens a satellite after their successful launch, Astro-E2 is now known as Suzaku. NASA would have 5 more successful manned missions to our closest neighbor, the last occurring in December 1972. ![]() July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.” They also left behind a tribute to the fallen Apollo 1 crew (Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee) and a plaque reading, “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon. The duo collected samples, shot photographs, and planted an American flag. While Collins orbited in the command module Columbia, Armstrong and Aldrin exited the lunar module Eagle and explored the Moon for nearly two and a half hours. The crew consisted of Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, Lunar Module Pilot Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, and Commander Neil Armstrong, who became the first man to walk on the lunar surface. This was the first time humans landed on the Moon. Today marks the 36th anniversary of NASA’s Apollo 11 lunar landing. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |