Australia's Historic Rocket Mission Seeks Source of X-Rays Coming From the Inner Galaxy, NASA Says

NASA launched a sounding rocket from the Arnhem Space Center in the Northern Territory of Australia on June 26 at 10:29 a.m. EDT (14:29 UTC). It marked the first commercial launch of Australia and the first commercial launch of NASA outside the US.

The Black Brant IX suborbital rocket was carrying the X-ray Quantum Calorimeter (XQC) experiment from the University of Wisconsin, in which preliminary analysis showed good data during the flight.

(Photo : Pixabay/Kanenori)
Australia's Historic Rocket Mission Seeks Source of X-Rays Coming From the Inner Galaxy, NASA Says

NASA, Australia Launch Rocket To Identify Source of X-Rays

To the naked human eyes, the space appears to be dark. But X-ray telescopes have a different view that reveals a universe blooming with activity, hinting at a yet unknown cosmic eruption coming from a place deeper in the galaxy.

Spaceflight Insider reported that the first of three science missions in Australia carried the XQC and flew it to an altitude of 203 miles (237 kilometers) before landing by parachute at the southwestern part of the launch site. It is the seventh trip of XQC aboard a NASA suborbital rocket and has a mission to observe a patch of X-ray light with 50 times better energy resolution to reveal its source.

Experts close to the launch deemed the collection of data by the science instrument a success and NASA will recover the XQC itself and rocket motors for further analysis. It will retire at Oak Ridge National Labs in Tennessee, where it will be used for laboratory experiments.

Physicists Bruno Rossi and Ricardo Giacconi launched the first X-ray detector into space in 1962. They recorded the first sources of X-rays beyond the Solar System, which is in the binary star system called Scorpius X-1, 9,000 light-years away. Their discovery founded the field of X-ray astronomy and won Giacconi a share of the 2002 Nobel Prize in physics.

NASA X-ray missions have allowed scientists to map X-rays in the sky in finer detail, but there are still bright patches from unknown sources. Astronomer Dan McCammon said they had been looking forward to the expedition in Australia as they needed to be in the Southern Hemisphere to see X-ray light from the Northern Hemisphere.

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Where Does X-ray Patch Come From?

A NASA news release reveals that scientists believe the X-ray patch could come from diffuse, hot gas from supernovae and the XQC mission with help investigate two possible sources.

One of these possible sources is gas heated by "Type 1a" supernovae somewhere in the inner part of the Milky Way galaxy, where there is a high enough concentration of this type to heat the X-ray patch the scientists are studying.

Another possible source is the more massive "Type II" supernovae that are even more massive, burn brighter, and hotter for millions of years before dying. But they are in active star-forming regions, such as those in the Milky Way's inner spiral arms.

It is the XQC's responsibility to analyze the X-ray light and look for traces of oxygen and iron that will help distinguish between the two possible sources. The more oxygen it has, the more it points to Type II supernovae. Meanwhile, less oxygen means it came from Typ 1a supernovae. The physics behind this stems from how long the stars burned before erupting.