Japan launches mission to study monster black holes, galaxy clusters

The launch date was originally scheduled for February 12, but was delayed due to bad weather.

Japan put into orbit on Wednesday an X-ray astronomy satellite that could shed light on the mysteries of black holes, carried on an H-2A rocket launched from the Tanegashima Space Centre in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima.

X-rays emitted by hot plasma hold clues about the inner workings of the mysterious black holes, the lives of galaxies, the structure of galactic clusters and where clumps of dark matter may reside in the universe. At an altitude of 575 kilometers and a very similar orbit to the Hubble Space Telescope, Astro-H should be visible from latitudes of 40°N to south of the equator.

Japan has already launched five ASTRO-H satellites. It is equipped with a Canadian lasermeasurement system, the Canadian ASTRO-H Metrology System (CAMS), provided by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). It was jointly developed by JAXA, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and other concerns.

The essence of the Astro-H mission inspired the satellite’s new name, which JAXA revealed today. The satellite has been released from the upper stage of the H-2A rocket to begin a three-year mission. “Like many Canadians, I look forward to the awesome discoveries from this space-based observatory, and am very much interested to see how Canadian scientists will help advance humankind’s knowledge of the universe”. “We will observe Hitomi in the universe using the Hitomi satellite!” “It will also have the highest resolution and highest sensitivity of all the spectrometers at energies above (2,000 electron volts)”.

X-ray telescopes must be installed on satellites rather than on Earth because X-rays do not penetrate the Earth’s atmosphere.

The hard X-ray detectors are mounted on the end of an arm six metres long that will slide out of the telescope’s body.

“It’s a great privilege to be part of this promising upcoming X-ray mission and to be collaborating with an excellent global team of scientists and instrumentalists”. The joint project with NASA has cost some ¥39 billion, with JAXA shouldering ¥31 billion. For comparison, the Chandra X-ray observatory covers from 0.1 to 10 keV, and the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) works in the 3 to 79 keV range.