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NASA has released this incredible image of the sky that represents 22 months of X-ray data captured from the International Space Station with the help of the interior composition explorer (NICER), a neutron star. From NASA:
"Even with minimal processing, this image reveals the Cygnus Loop, a supernova remnant of about 90 light-years that would be between 5,000 and 8,000 years old," said Keith Gendreau, lead investigator of the Goddard mission. NASA Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "We are gradually building a new x-ray image of all the sky, and it is possible that NICER's nighttime scans uncover previously unknown sources."
The main mission of NICER is to determine the size of the dense remains of dead stars called neutron stars – which we sometimes consider as pulsars – with an accuracy of 5%. These measurements will finally allow physicists to solve the mystery of the shape of matter in their incredibly compressed nuclei. Pulsars, rapidly rotating neutron stars that seem to "emit" bright light, are ideally suited for this "mass-radius" search and are one of NICER's usual targets.
Other frequently visited pulsars are studied as part of the NICER Station Explorer experiment for X-ray synchronization and navigation technology (SEXTANT), which utilizes the precise synchronization of pulse pulsar X-rays. to autonomously determine the position and speed of NICER in space. It is essentially a galactic GPS system. When mature, this technology will allow spacecraft to navigate the solar system – and beyond.
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David Pescovitz
David Pescovitz is the co-publisher of Boing Boing. On Instagram he is @pesco.
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