This weekend, space fans will be able to see the launch of the XRISM mission, a new spacecraft that will observe the hottest, most turbulent known places in the universe.
XRISM (X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) is scheduled to launch from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan on Saturday at 20:30 EDT (27 August 00:15 UTC / 01:15 BST), which is 09:30 in Tokyo. Time.
It is a joint venture between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA, with the participation of the European Space Agency (ESA).
JAXA is livestreaming the event, which you can watch at the bottom of this article.
What does XRISM do?
„X-ray astronomy enables us to study the most dynamic phenomena in the universe,” says Matteo Guainazzi, ESA project scientist for XRISM.
„It holds the key to answering important questions in modern astrophysics
„How the largest structures in the universe form, and how the matter from which we are ultimately made is distributed through the universe.
„And how galaxies are shaped by the supermassive black holes at their cores.”
„With current instruments, these fingerprints can only be seen relatively faintly,” says Brian Williams, NASA’s XRISM project scientist.
„Resolve will effectively provide a spectrometer with a magnifying glass for X-ray astrophysics.”
XRISM is expected to shed light on exploding stars (supernovae), black holes and their host galaxies and clusters.
You can learn more about the science behind the spacecraft in our guide to the XRISM mission.
And watch the live coverage of the XRISM launch below.
What is XRISM Live?
Learn more by JAXA XRISM web page.
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