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X-ray astronomy is an observational branch of astronomy which deals with the study of X-ray observation and detection from astronomical objects. X-radiation is absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere, so instruments to detect X-rays must be taken to high altitude by balloons, sounding rockets, and satellites. X-ray astronomy uses a type of space telescope that can see x-ray radiation which standard optical telescopes, such as the Mauna Kea Observatories, cannot. X-ray emission is expected from astronomical objects that contain extremely hot gases at temperatures from about a million kelvin (K) to hundreds of millions of kelvin (MK). Moreover, the maintenance of the E-layer of ionized gas high in the Earth's thermosphere also suggested a strong extraterrestrial source of X-rays. Although theory predicted that the Sun and the stars would be prominent X-ray sources, there was no way to verify this because Earth's atmosphere blocks most extraterrestrial X-rays. It was not until ways of sending instrument packages to high altitudes were developed that these X-ray sources could be studied. The existence of solar X-rays was confirmed early in the mid-twentieth century by V-2s converted to sounding rockets, and the detection of extra-terrestrial X-rays has been the primary or secondary mission of multiple satellites since 1958. The first cosmic (beyond the Solar System) X-ray source was discovered by a sounding rocket in 1962. Called Scorpius X-1 (Sco X-1) (the first X-ray source found in the constellation Scorpius), the X-ray emission of Scorpius X-1 is 10,000 times greater than its visual emission, whereas that of the Sun is about a million times less. In addition, the energy output in X-rays is 100,000 times greater than the total emission of the Sun in all wavelengths. Many thousands of X-ray sources have since been discovered. In addition, the intergalactic space in galaxy clusters is filled with a hot, but very dilute gas at a temperature between 100 and 1000 megakelvins (MK).

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Related publications (1)

The masses of active neutrinos in the nuMSM from X-ray astronomy

Alexey Boyarsky, Oleg Ruchayskiy

In an extension of the Standard Model by three relatively light right-handed neutrinos (the νMSM model) the role of the dark matter particle is played by the lightest sterile neutrino. We demonstrate that the observations of the extragalactic x-ray background allow us to put a strong upper bound on the mass of the lightest active neutrino and predict the absolute values of the mass of the two heavier active neutrinos in the νMSM provided that the mass of the dark matter sterile neutrino is larger than 1.8 keV. © Pleiades Publishing, Inc. 2006.

2006

Related people (3)

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Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies, meteoroid, asteroid, and comets. Relevant phenomena include supernova explosions, gamma ray bursts, quasars, blazars, pulsars, and cosmic microwave background radiation. More generally, astronomy studies everything that originates beyond Earth's atmosphere.

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