Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer : NASA
NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) has revealed the structures in a newly discovered X-ray binary system designated as Swift J1727.8-1613, or Swift J1727 in short.
- Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is a NASA Small Explorer Mission in collaboration with the Italian Space Agency (ASI).
- IXPE was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on December 9, 2021.
- IXPE is NASA’s first mission to study the polarization of X-rays from many different types of celestial objects.
- Objects such as black holes can heat surrounding gases to more than a million degrees. The high-energy X-ray radiation from this gas can be polarized – vibrating in a particular direction.
- The observatory features three identical telescopes, each consisting of a mirror module assembly with a polarization-sensitive imaging x-ray detector at the focus.
- IXPE measurements will provide new dimensions for probing a wide range of cosmic X-ray sources – including active galactic nuclei (AGN) and microquasars, pulsars and pulsar wind nebulae, magnetars, accreting X-ray binaries, supernova remnants, and the Galactic center.
