| Term: | X-ray astronomy |
| Definition: |
The study of celestial bodies using their X-ray emission. X-ray astronomy deals mainly with Galactic and extragalactic phenomena involving very high-energy photon emissions, covering a band of energies between 0.1 keV and 500 keV. The research field includes: X-ray binaries, cataclysmic variables, pulsars, black holes, dark matter, active galaxies, galactic clusters X-ray transients. The Earth's atmosphere absorbs most X-rays coming from outer space. X-ray astronomy therefore requires observations to be done above atmosphere. The first rocket flight which successfully detected a cosmic source of X-ray emission was launched in 1962 by an American research group. A very bright source was detected that they named Scorpius X-1. Since then several dedicated X-ray astronomy satellites have been launched, among which: Uhuru, INTEGRAL, ROSAT, Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), Chandra X-ray Observatory, and XMM-Newton, which have contributed to important advances in astronomy. |