XRISM Mission Captures Unmatched Data With Just 36 Pixels

At a time when phone cameras are capable of taking snapshots with millions of pixels, an instrument on the Japan-led XRISM (X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) captures revolutionary science with just 36 of them.
That may sound impossible, but it’s true.
XRISM (pronounced “crism”) is led by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) in collaboration with NASA, along with contributions from ESA (European Space Agency). It launched into orbit last September and has been scrutinizing the cosmos ever since. The mission detects “soft” X-rays, which have energies up to 5,000 times greater than visible light. It will probe the universe’s hottest regions, largest structures, and objects with the strongest gravity, like supermassive black holes in the cores of distant galaxies.
XRISM accomplishes this with an instrument named Resolve. Resolve's detector takes the temperature of each X-ray that strikes it. Astronomers call Resolve a microcalorimeter spectrometer because each of its 36 pixels measures the tiny amount of heat delivered by each incoming X-ray. This lets astronomers see the chemical fingerprints of elements making up the sources in unprecedented detail.
In order to accomplish this, the entire detector must be chilled to 459.58 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (minus 273.1 degrees Celsius), just a whisker above absolute zero.
The instrument is so precise it can detect the motions of elements within a target, effectively providing a 3D view. Gas moving toward us glows at slightly higher energies than normal, while gas moving away from us emits slightly lower energies. This will, for example, allow scientists to better understand the flow of hot gas within clusters of galaxies and to track the movement of different elements in the debris of supernova explosions.
Resolve is taking astronomers into a new era of cosmic exploration - and with only three-dozen pixels.
Music credit: "Wading Through" and “Stop and Hide” from Universal Production Music
Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Producer: Scott Wiessinger (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
Science writer: Francis Reddy (University of Maryland College Park)
Animator:Adriana Manrique Gutierrez (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
Animator: Scott Wiessinger (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
Writer: Scott Wiessinger (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
Narrator: Sophia Roberts (Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc.)
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[@JackMack465]

Thank you for this update. I had not heard anything about this until now.

[@olorin4317]

Woah, high def space X-rays.

[@mrhassell]

Low Hi-Def

[@acertainscientificstudent1676]

Great work from NASA as always

[@mrhassell]

Excellent demonstration of less being more. Think small.

[@JohnVance]

Go XRISM!

[@hindsight2022]

How do you protect such a sensor from high energy protons from a solar ejection .

[@johnconnelly3066]

With a flux capacitor, duh 😬

[@Sinaeb]

by having them super cool

[@user-raf]

Спасибо.

[@johntuffy5721]

you are welcome :)

[@Rmm1722]

Good work 💯😎

[@sinnaman-dj-atrain]

Is Chandra getting shutdown? I know we have this and Athena is coming, but I heard that they are planning to shutdown Chandra.

[@harrypitts7389]

Vocal fry

[@maiconb1786]

Just 😯😯💯

[@Awesomes007]

👍

[@oto_ivanovsky_TFE]

Vidět neznamená rozumět a dost často to znamená opak. Větší vesmír je v nás, ale je dobré míti srovnání. Nevěřím že se vesmír vyřeší ale bylo by to vhodné včera.

[@TylerWoodz27]

Cool cartoons

Makes a change from Flerf fool cartoons

[@Superseaslug]

i didnt know they could draw

[@paronzoda]

Disney Nasa voice actor

[@Strikerokk]

Maaaan, im so high, 🎉

[@abpccpba]

NO MUSIC.