This picture of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A combines some of the first X-ray data collected by NASAs Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, revealed in magenta, with high-energy X-ray data from NASAs Chandra X-Ray Observatory, in blue. Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/ IXPE.
In the image above, the saturation of the magenta color corresponds to the intensity of X-ray light observed by IXPE. It overlays high energy X-ray data, revealed in blue, from NASAs Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Chandra and IXPE, with various sort of detectors, catch different levels of angular resolution, or sharpness. An additional version of this image is available revealing only IXPE information. These images contain IXPE information gathered from January 11 to 18.
After Chandra released in 1999, its first image was also of Cassiopeia A. Chandras X-ray images exposed, for the first time, that there is a compact things in the center of the supernova residue, which may be a black hole or neutron star.
” The IXPE picture of Cassiopeia A is as historic as the Chandra picture of the very same supernova residue,” said Martin C. Weisskopf, the IXPE principal private investigator based at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “It shows IXPEs prospective to get new, never-before-seen information about Cassiopeia A, which is under analysis today.”.
This image from NASAs Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer maps the intensity of X-rays originating from the observatorys first target, the supernova residue Cassiopeia A. Colors varying from cool purple and blue to red and hot white correspond with the increasing brightness of the X-rays. The image was created using X-ray information collected by IXPE between January 11-18. Credit: NASA.
A crucial measurement that researchers will make with IXPE is called polarization, a way of looking at how X-ray light is oriented as it takes a trip through area. The polarization of light contains ideas to the environment where the light come from. IXPEs instruments also determine the energy, the time of arrival, and the position in the sky of the X-rays from cosmic sources.
” The IXPE image of Cassiopeia A is bellissima, and we eagerly anticipate examining the polarimetry data to learn even more about this supernova remnant,” said Paolo Soffitta, the Italian principal investigator for IXPE at the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) in Rome.
With polarization data from Cassiopeia A, IXPE will allow scientists to see, for the very first time, how the quantity of polarization varies across the supernova residue, which is about 10 light-years in size. This will expose new clues about how X-rays are produced at Cassiopeia A.
” IXPEs future polarization images should must the mechanisms at the heart of this famous popular accelerator,” said Roger Romani, an IXPE co-investigator at Stanford University.
IXPE launched on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, and now orbits 370 miles (600 kilometers) above Earths equator. The objective is a partnership between NASA and the Italian Space Agency with partners and science partners in 12 nations. Ball Aerospace, headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado, handles spacecraft operations.
IXPE first focused its X-ray eyes on Cassiopeia A, a things consisting of the remains of a star that took off in the 17th century. In the image above, the saturation of the magenta color corresponds to the intensity of X-ray light observed by IXPE. The image was created utilizing X-ray information gathered by IXPE in between January 11-18. An essential measurement that scientists will make with IXPE is called polarization, a method of looking at how X-ray light is oriented as it takes a trip through space. IXPEs instruments also determine the energy, the time of arrival, and the position in the sky of the X-rays from cosmic sources.
Artists representation of IXPE in Earth orbit. Credit: NASA
NASAs Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer, which introduced December 9, 2021, has actually provided its first imaging data because finishing its month-long commissioning phase.
All instruments are functioning well aboard the observatory, which is on a quest to study some of the most strange and severe objects in the universe.
IXPE initially focused its X-ray eyes on Cassiopeia A, an object including the remains of a star that exploded in the 17th century. The shock waves from the explosion have actually swept up surrounding gas, heating it to high temperature levels and speeding up cosmic ray particles to make a cloud that shines in X-ray light. Other telescopes have studied Cassiopeia A before, however IXPE will enable researchers to examine it in a new way.
