A Vast X-Ray Image Spans Half the Universe Capturing Over a Million Sources

Astronomers have utilized the eROSITA space telescope to chart half of the universe in X-ray light. This newly created map, featuring nearly a million X-ray sources, serves as the foundation for numerous scientific papers, with many more anticipated in the future.

Positioned at Lagrange Point 2, eROSITA is a soft X-ray imaging telescope situated near the James Webb Space Telescope. The primary objective was to conduct a comprehensive survey of the entire sky in X-ray wavelengths, identifying new galaxies, clusters, supermassive black holes, and other celestial objects. Additionally, the telescope aims to study massive structures and contribute to the measurement of dark energy, the enigmatic force driving the universe’s accelerated expansion.

Unveiling eRASS1

The inaugural data release is named the eROSITA All-Sky Survey Catalogue (eRASS1), compiled from information collected by the telescope from December 12, 2019, to June 11, 2020. During this period, eROSITA recorded 170 million individual X-ray photons. By analyzing the energy and arrival time of each photon, a comprehensive map of the cosmos can be constructed.

This map encompasses half of the nocturnal sky, specifically the western hemisphere, and encompasses more than 900,000 X-ray sources. Among these sources are approximately 710,000 supermassive black holes actively consuming matter at the cores of galaxies, 180,000 X-ray-emitting stars within the Milky Way, 12,000 galaxy clusters, and a variety of less common entities like pulsars, supernova remnants, binary stars, and other X-ray sources.

“These figures are astonishing in the realm of X-ray astronomy,” remarked Andrea Merloni, the eROSITA principal investigator. “In just six months, we have detected more sources than the extensive flagship missions XMM-Newton and Chandra have achieved in almost 25 years of operation.”

eRASS1’s Revelations

However, this initial public release of data is accompanied by the publication of nearly 50 new papers based on eRASS1. Among the findings are the identification of over 1,000 galaxy superclusters, the observation of a 42 million light-year-long gas filament connecting two clusters, investigations into how X-ray emissions from stars impact the habitability of their planets, and studies of X-rays emitted by supernova remnants, stars, and various celestial objects.

This marks only the initial phase, as eROSITA conducted three additional sky scans between June 2020 and February 2022, before the joint German-Russian project was temporarily halted due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The data from these subsequent scans will be disclosed in the near future.

To conclude, the complete collection of scientific publications derived from this data can be accessed on the eROSITA website.

Read the original article on: New Atlas

Read more: Hubble Space Telescope Detects Water Vapor in Atmosphere of Small Exoplanet