Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT) also known as Insight () is a Chinese
X-ray
An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...
space observatory, launched on June 15, 2017
to observe
black hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravitation, gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other Electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts t ...
s,
neutron star
A neutron star is the collapsed core of a massive supergiant star, which had a total mass of between 10 and 25 solar masses, possibly more if the star was especially metal-rich. Except for black holes and some hypothetical objects (e.g. white ...
s,
active galactic nuclei
An active galactic nucleus (AGN) is a compact region at the center of a galaxy that has a much-higher-than-normal luminosity over at least some portion of the electromagnetic spectrum with characteristics indicating that the luminosity is not prod ...
and other phenomena based on their X-ray and gamma-ray emissions.
[ Andrew Jones. ] It is based on the
JianBing 3 imagery reconnaissance satellite series platform.
The project, a joint collaboration of the
Ministry of Science and Technology of China
The Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China, formerly the State Science and Technology Commission, is the central government ministry which coordinates science and technology activities in the country. The office is ...
, the
Chinese Academy of Sciences
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republ ...
, and
Tsinghua University
Tsinghua University (; abbreviation, abbr. THU) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Minis ...
, has been under development since 2000.
Payload
The main scientific instrument is an array of 18 NaI(Tl)/CsI(na) slat-collimated
"phoswich" scintillation detectors, collimated to 5.7°×1° overlapping fields of view.
[HXMT.cn]
Configuration
(Hard X-ray telescope design) c.2004
The main NaI detectors have an area of 286 cm
2 each, and cover the 20–200 keV energy range.
Data analysis is planned to be by a direct algebraic method, "direct demodulation",
[HXMT.cn]
The direct demodulation method
(Imaging by direct deconvolution) c.2004 which has shown promise in de-convolving the raw data into images while preserving excellent angular and energy resolution.
The satellite has three payloads, the high energy X-ray Telescope (20–250 keV), the medium energy X-ray telescope (5–30 keV), and the low energy X-ray telescope (1–15 keV)
See also
*
X-ray astronomy
*
X-ray astronomy satellite
An X-ray astronomy satellite studies X-ray emissions from celestial objects, as part of a branch of space science known as X-ray astronomy. Satellites are needed because X-radiation is absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere, so instruments to detect ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hard X-Ray Modulation Telescope
Space telescopes
X-ray telescopes
Chinese telescopes
2017 in China
Spacecraft launched in 2017
Satellites of China
Spacecraft launched by Long March rockets