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New NASA mission to uncover mysteries of black holes and neutron stars
The spacecraft, a joint venture between NASA and the Italian space agency, has three telescopes. Although IXPE is not as large as NASA’s Lunar X-ray Laboratory, it is the first space laboratory. The satellite can see an often overlooked feature of cosmic ray sources called polarization.
“The launch of IXPE marks a bold and unique achievement in X-ray astronomy,” said Martin Weisskop, chief analyst at IXPE. “IXPE tells us more about the accuracy of cosmic X-ray sources than we can know from simply studying their brightness and color spectrum.”
X-rays are the most powerful wavelength of light emitted in terms of intensity. In space, these are powerful magnetic fields, collisions between objects, explosions, scorching temperatures and rapid rotation. This light is practically encoded by the signatures of its creator, but Earth’s atmosphere prevents X-rays from reaching the earth. This is why scientists rely on space-based X-ray telescopes.
Polarized light bears a unique imprint of its source and the path it travels. When light waves vibrate in any direction, polarized light vibrates in only one direction.
Understanding extreme space objects
Using IXPE to study the polarity of cosmic X-rays will help scientists better understand the remnants of exploding stars such as black holes and neutron stars, their surroundings, and how they form X-rays. This view of extreme cosmology may also provide answers to broader fundamental questions in physics.
“IXPE will help test and refine our theories about how the universe works,” Wisecope said. “Even more interesting answers may come than we thought. Better yet, we can find a complete list of new questions! “
Satellite eyes in the universe include sensitive polarization detectors made in Italy. Telescopes observe X-rays and equip them with detectors that can capture X-ray images and measure their polarity.
“That would be fantastic from an X-ray data point of view,” Weisskop said. “We will analyze the results for the coming decades.”
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