A celestial object imaged by eROSITA, a telescope that photographs the universe using X-ray wavelengths. Provided by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Germany
The results of imaging and analyzing the universe using X-ray wavelengths have been newly reported to the academic world. Based on this, astronomers reconstructed the evolution process of the universe, and it was analyzed that no new discoveries that went beyond existing cosmology were made.
According to a paper published by the German Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics on the pre-release site ‘Archive’ on the 14th (local time), the research team used X-rays to observe about 900,000 cosmic phenomena ranging from black holes to supernova explosions. This is the result achieved by ‘eROSITA’, an X-ray telescope aboard the Russian spacecraft ‘SRG’, during its six-month mission.
Iroshita can be observed from a wide range of angles while the spacecraft rotates. This observed data becomes the data that can be used to analyze the universe in the most precise way. To obtain more detailed data, the research team combined the photos taken by Irocita with existing space image data taken by the Giant Telescope located in Chile, and then reconstructed them in three dimensions (3D).
The data released this time includes observations of 710,000 supermassive black holes at the heart of a distant galaxy, 180,000 stars located in our galaxy that are hot enough to emit X-rays, and supernova remnants. It also included 12,000 galaxy clusters, some of the largest structures in the universe. A galaxy cluster is a group of thousands of galaxies bound together by gravity. The research team analyzed data on 5,259 galaxies belonging to this galaxy cluster and restored the evolution process of the universe.
As a result of the analysis, the composition of the universe was consistent with the existing cosmology. It is made up of 25% dark matter, 70% dark energy, and 5% normal matter. Dark energy is a hypothetical energy that is assumed to be distributed throughout the universe to accelerate the expansion of the universe.
The analysis results that estimated the mass of the universe also did not reveal any new facts that deviate from the existing standard universe model. The standard universe model is a universe model that determines whether the universe has an expansion rate close to ‘0’, continues to expand without limit, or stops at maximum expansion and contracts again, depending on the mass of neutrinos and dark matter. The research team used the data to measure the masses of three types of neutrinos and found that they matched the previously measured mass values of neutrinos.
Iroshita plans to release additional data several times in the future. The research team expects to obtain data on a total of 3 million space objects.
