Английская Википедия:Einstein Probe
Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Distinguish Шаблон:Infobox spaceflight The Einstein Probe (EP) is an X-ray space telescope mission by Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in partnership with European Space Agency (ESA) and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) dedicated to time-domain high-energy astrophysics.[1][2] The primary goals are "to discover high-energy transients and monitor variable objects".[3]
Scientific objectives
The primary science objectives are:[4]
- Identify inactive black holes to study how matter is precipitated there by detecting the transient events that take the form of X-ray flares;
- Detect the electromagnetic counterpart of events triggering gravitational waves such as the merger of neutron stars which will be discovered by the next generation of gravitational wave detectors;
- Carry out permanent monitoring of the entire sky to detect the various transient phenomena and carry out measurements of known variable X-ray sources.
Instruments
Einstein Probe carries 2 scientific instruments: the Wide-field X-ray Telescope (WXT), and the Follow-up X-ray Telescope (FXT).[5] Both telescopes utilize X-ray focusing optics.
- Wide-field X-ray Telescope (WXT): WXT has a new optics design, called "lobster-eye", that has wider field of view.[2][5] "Lobster-eye" optics was first tested by the Lobster Eye Imager for Astronomy (LEIA) mission, launched in 2022.[2][6][7] WXT consists of 12 Lobster-eye optics sensor modules, together creating a very large instantaneous field-of-view of 3600 square degrees. The nominal detection bandpass of WXT is 0.5~4.0 keV. Each module weighs 17 kg and has an electrical power consumption of just under 13 W. With the peripherals, the entire telescope weighs 251 kg and has a power consumption of 315 W.
- Follow-up X-ray Telescope (FXT): FXT has optics adopted from eROSITA, "the mirror module consists of 54 nested Wolter mirrors with a focal length of 1600 mm and an effective area of greater than 300 cm2 at 1.5 keV."[5]
The probe weights 1450 kg and is 3-by-3.4 metres.[2]
Launch
Einstein Probe was launched on 9 January 2024, at 07:03 UTC by a Long March 2C rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in China, and successfully placed in low Earth orbit at an altitude of 600 km.[8]
See also
- Timeline of artificial satellites and space probes
- List of things named after Albert Einstein
- X-ray astronomy
References
Further reading
External links
- Шаблон:Official website at NAOC, CAS. Шаблон:Webarchive
- Einstein Probe at ESA.int
- Einstein Probe at MPE.MPG.de
Шаблон:Space observatories Шаблон:Chinese spacecraft Шаблон:Orbital launches in 2024 Шаблон:Authority control Шаблон:Portal bar
