eROSITA

eROSITA is an X-ray telescope built by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) in Germany for launch by Roscosmos of Russia on board the Spektr-RG, which also carries the Russian telescope "ART-XC". eROSITA is expected to be 25 times more sensitive than the 1990s ROSAT telescope, and will effectively replace it when it reaches its orbit after a planned launch in 2019 .[1]

The telescope consists of seven identical mirror modules with 54 nested, gold-coated mirrors each, arranged to collect the high-energy X-ray photons and guide them to the X-ray sensitive cameras. The cameras were also custom-built at MPE, with X-ray CCDs manufactured from high-purity silicon. For optimum performance, the cameras are cooled to -90°C using a heat pipe system.

Spektr-RG will be at the second Lagrange point (L2).

References

  1. ↑ Zak, Anatoly (16 April 2016). "Spektr-RG to expand horizons of X-ray astronomy". Russian Space Web. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
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