Spektr-RG: A powerful X-ray telescope launched to map the cosmos



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Telescope work

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RussianSpaceWeb.com

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Illustration: The Spektr-RG mission consists of two telescopes in one

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One of the most important Russian space science missions of the post-Soviet era was launched in Baikonur.

The Spektr-RG telescope is a joint venture with Germany that will map X-rays across the sky with unprecedented accuracy.

Researchers say this information will help them trace the large-scale structure of the Universe.

The hope is that Spektr-RG can provide new information on the accelerating behavior of cosmic expansion.

It should also identify an impressive number of new X-ray sources, such as colossal black holes in the center of the galaxies.

As the gas falls into these monsters, the material is heated and shredded and "screams" X-rays. The radiation is essentially a witness to the most violent phenomena in the universe.

Spektr-RG expects to detect about three million super massive black holes during its useful life.

Top image courtesy of RussianSpaceWeb.com

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Roscosmos

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It has been a journey of several decades for Russian scientists

The telescope went into orbit at the top of a Proton rocket that left the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 17:31 local time (12:31 GMT).

However, it will take several weeks before the mission's work can actually begin.

The spacecraft must first travel to a popular viewing position some 1.5 million km from the Earth, known as Lagrange Point 2.

It is here that Spektr-RG can enjoy a stable environment, protected from temperature variations and the shadows it would normally experience if it worked closer to our planet.

But once the tests are completed, the observatory can devote itself to the task of scanning the sky.

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Roscosmos

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The launch had been delayed in recent weeks due to technical issues related to the mission rocket.

Spektr-RG is designed as a two-in-one telescope.

The eRosita system, developed in Germany, occupies most of the room on the bus or the chassis of the spacecraft. Beside, is the scientific equipment built in Russia and known as ART-XC.

Both use a group of seven tubular mirror modules to corrode X-ray light on sensitive camera detectors.

By working in tandem, eRosita and ART-XC will map radiation as it floods the cosmos in the energy range of 0.2 to 30 kiloelectron volts (keV).

Over a six-month period, they will complete a full survey, which will be repeated several times to improve the details.

Scientists expect the data to be a revelation. A radiological map of the entire sky had never been produced with the desired energies and with such a fine resolution.

A key goal of Spektr-RG will be to study the mysterious cosmic components called "dark matter" and "dark energy".

This duo represents 96% of the energy density of the Universe, but we know almost nothing about them. The first seems to draw on normal visible matter by gravity, while the second seems to strive to separate the cosmos at an ever faster rate.

Spektr-RG's knowledge will come from mapping the distribution of hot gases emitting X-rays.

This will illuminate the large clusters of galaxies that cross the universe. In doing so, he will identify the locations with the highest concentrations of dark matter.

"Our goal is to detect around 100,000 clusters and, beyond a certain mass limit, to detect all the clusters in the universe," explained Professor Kirpal Nandra of the Institute. Max Planck of Extraterrestrial Physics from Garching, Germany.

"We then measure their masses and see how the number of groups of a given mass evolves over cosmic time.This gives us a potentially very accurate measure of the amount of dark matter and how it is occurring. agglomerates, "he told BBC News.

"Our sensitivity allows us to map all this over huge distances, dating back more than half the age of the Universe.This means that we see the large scale structure not only such that". it is now, but also at the time, and we also see how it has evolved over time, which gives you the opportunity to test cosmological models and perhaps see the influence of dark energy and whether it has changed over time. "

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P.FRIEDRICH.MPE

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eRosita: A group of seven mirror modules guide X-rays to camera detectors

Spektr-RG has taken decades to develop. Russian scientists have had to deal with inconsistent funding over the years and, as a result, the concept launched on Saturday is radically different from what was originally envisioned.

The mission has been described as the most important astrophysical enterprise of post-Soviet Russia. Professor Nandra said that his Russian colleagues certainly understood that.

"This puts them at the forefront of X-ray astronomy, which is a huge opportunity for them," he added.

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