SpaceX’s Spacecon Falcon 9 launches from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:00 CET. About half an hour after the launch, the IXPE telescope was successfully detached. Its orbit is about 540 kilometers high.
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This morning at 07:00 CET, the Falcon 9 launch vehicle launched from the KSC spaceport. After 33 minutes and 22 seconds, the IXPE space X-ray telescope detached. Its orbit has a height of about 540 km and a slope of 0 ° (this is not a typo) to the equator. pic.twitter.com/NkhMSLC42c
– Michal Vaclavik (@Kosmo_Michal) December 9, 2021
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This is a NASA project in cooperation with the Italian Space Agency (ASI), but the scientific contribution is also Czech. Michal Dovčiak, Deputy Director of the Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, leads an international team of about 60 scientists, in charge of one scientific topic of the mission: “accreting stellar black holes”.
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“Michal Dovčiak is a world-renowned expert on black holes,” Pavel Suchan, the press secretary of the Astronomical Institute of the ASCR, reminded the News.
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State-of-the-art X-ray binoculars
The observatory itself has three state-of-the-art X-ray telescopes to observe X-ray polarization. “This one of the most advanced X-ray observatories will primarily examine neutron stars and black holes in the far reaches of space,” Suchan said.
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The research will focus on exotic space objects, such as not only black holes and neutron stars, but also pulsars, magnetars, supernova remnants, quasars and the nuclei of active galaxies, the report on the Czech Astronomical Society (ČAS) website recalls.
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These objects will be examined by X-rays, which they emit, according to NASA in its statement.
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After reaching its orbit, the IXPE satellite was to deploy its four-meter extension arm, which holds three X-ray mirror modules. Their task will be to direct X-rays to three sensitive detectors in the body of the whole apparatus.
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