NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is making advances in astronomy with its 122-megapixel primarily infrared photos taken 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. Impressive stuff. However, the space agency’s latest sky-peeper takes a different approach, showcasing unprecedented space science with 36 pixels. This is not a typo—36 pixels, not 36 megapixels.
X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM), pronounced “chrism”, is a collaboration between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The mission’s satellite was launched into orbit last September and has since been searching the universe for answers to some of science’s most complex questions. The mission’s imaging instrument, Resolve, has a 36-pixel image sensor.
It’s been a hot moment since we could count individual pixels on an imaging chip, but here we are… The array measures 0.2 inches (5 millimeters) on a side. The instrument produces a spectrum of X-ray sources between 400 and 12,000 electron volts – up to 5,000 times the energy of visible light – with unprecedented detail. Image Credit: NASA/XRISM/Caroline Kilbourne
“Resolution is much more than a camera. Its detector takes the temperature of every X-ray that hits it,” said Brian Williams, NASA’s XRISM project scientist at Goddard. a press statement, “We call RESOLVE a microcalorimeter spectrometer because each of its 36 pixels is measuring tiny amounts of heat delivered by each incoming X-ray, allowing us to see the chemical fingerprint of the elements making up the sources in unprecedented detail. “
Equipped with an extraordinary array of pixels, the RESOLVE instrument can detect “soft” X-rays, which have about 5,000 times more energy than visible light wavelengths. Its primary focus is to discover the hottest cosmic regions, the largest structures, and the most massive celestial objects, such as supermassive black holes. Despite its limited pixel count, each pixel in Resolve is remarkable, capable of generating a rich spectrum of visual data covering an energy range from 400 to 12,000 electron volts.
The agency says the device can sense the movement of elements within a target, essentially offering a three-dimensional perspective. The gas moving toward us emits slightly more energy than normal, while the gas moving away emits slightly less energy. This capability opens up new avenues for scientific exploration. For example, it enables scientists to understand the flow of hot gas in galaxy clusters and to carefully track the motion of different elements in the remains of supernova explosions.
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