Astronomy:ART-XC
| Mission type | Space observatory |
|---|---|
| Operator |  Russia, Russian Space Research Institute Germany, German Aerospace Center |
| Mission duration | ≈ 7 years; until late 2026 to early 2027 (planned) |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Spektr-RG |
| Manufacturer | Russian Space Research Institute and All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Experimental Physics |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 13 July 2019, 12:31 UTC |
| Rocket | Proton-M |
| Launch site | Baikonur 45/1 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Second Lagrange point (L2) |
| Main | |
| Name | ART-XC |
| Type | Wolter-I |
| Wavelengths | X-rays |
The Astronomical Roentgen Telescope X-ray Concentrator (ART-XC) is an X-ray telescope with a grazing incidence mirror that is capable of capturing high energy X-ray photons within the 5-30 keV energy range. This telescope is one of the two X-ray telescopes on the Spektr-RG (SRG) mission. The other telescope that SRG carries is eROSITA. The observatory was launched on 13 July 2019 via a Proton rocket from the Russian launch site Baikonur in Kazakhstan.
Overview
ART-XC was developed by the Space Research Institute (IKI) and the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Experimental Physics (VNIIEF). The NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has developed and fabricated flight models of the X-ray mirror systems.[1][2] The ART-XC telescope consists of 7 identical mirror modules each made with 28 nickel-cobalt grazing-incidence mirrors. The mirror design is Wolter-I and is coated with iridium. Each module also has its own cadmium-tellurium double-sided strip detector. The typical on-axis half-power diameter of ART-XC is 27 to 34 arcsec, while the effective area of each module is 65 cm2 (both were estimated at 8 keV). The field of view for each module is about 36′ in diameter.
ART-XC will survey the entire sky every six months, and the planned all-sky survey will be completed in the first four years of the mission.[3][4][5]
First light
Roscosmos published the first light image of ART-XC, which was taken on July 30, 2019. The image shows the source Centaurus X-3 imaged with the 7 telescopes, as well as the light curve of the pulsar folded at its pulse period of 4.8s.[6]
Instruments
| eROSITA[7] | ART-XC[8] | |
|---|---|---|
| Organisation | Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics | IKI / VNIIEF |
| Telescope type | Wolter | Wolter |
| Wavelength | X-ray | X-ray |
| Mass | 810 kg | 350 kg |
| Sensitivity range | 0.3 - 10 keV | 6 - 30 keV |
| View angle | 1 degree | 30 arcminutes |
| Angular resolution | 15 arcseconds | 45 arcseconds |
| Sensor area | 2,400 cm2/ 1 keV | 450 cm2/ 8 keV |
References
- ↑ "ART-XC homepage". http://srg.iki.rssi.ru/?page_id=66.
- ↑ "MSFC ART-XC page". https://wwwastro.msfc.nasa.gov/artxc/.
- ↑ Pavlinsky, M.; Levin, V.; Akimov, V.; Krivchenko, A.; Rotin, A.; Kuznetsova, M.; Lapshov, I.; Tkachenko, A. et al. (1 July 2018). "ART-XC / SRG overview". Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2018: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray. 10699. pp. 106991Y. doi:10.1117/12.2312053. ISBN 9781510619517. Bibcode: 2018SPIE10699E..1YP.
- ↑ Krivonos, R.; Tkachenko, A.; Burenin, R.; Filippova, E.; Lapshov, I.; Mereminskiy, I.; Molkov, S.; Pavlinsky, M. et al. (October 2017). "Calibration of the ART-XC mirror modules at MSFC". Experimental Astronomy 44 (1): 147–164. doi:10.1007/s10686-017-9555-0. Bibcode: 2017ExA....44..147K.
- ↑ Mereminskiy, I. A.; Filippova, E. V.; Burenin, R. A.; Sazonov, S. Yu.; Pavlinsky, M. N.; Tkachenko, A. Yu.; Lapshov, I. Yu.; Shtykovskiy, A. E. et al. (1 February 2018). "A Deep Extragalactic Survey with the ART-XC Telescope of the Spectrum-RG Observatory: Simulations and Expected Results". Astronomy Letters 44 (2): 67–80. doi:10.1134/S1063773718020044. Bibcode: 2018AstL...44...67M.
- ↑ "Новости. Первый свет обсерватории "Спектр-РГ"". https://www.roscosmos.ru/26624/.
- ↑ eROSITA Technical Performance. Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics. Accessed on 14 June 2019.
- ↑ "ART-XC ON SRG". NASA. https://wwwastro.msfc.nasa.gov/artxc/docs/observatory.html.
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