NASA shared the first space photo taken by the IXPE spacecraft on February 14th. And this photo was Cassiopeia A, the brightest astronomical radio source in the sky, which exploded 400 years ago. If we talk about the IXPE spacecraft before moving on to the photo taken; It is an observatory with three telescopes in total, designed to measure the polarization of cosmic X-rays from black holes, neutron stars and pulsars.
IXPE was launched last December and is still very early in the mission. However, even the first photo is proof of how unique this mission will bring us. If you wish, let’s take a look at the details of the incoming image together.
Here is the first photo taken by the IXPE spacecraft
NASA’s IXPE spacecraft, launched on December 9, 2021, entered the commissioning phase, which took approximately one month. After he finished, he took his first photo on February 14. This photo was shared with his enthusiasts by NASA. The IXPE spacecraft first turned its eyes to Cassiopeia A, formed from the remnants of a supernova star that exploded 400 years ago.
The data presented by the photograph gives scientists an idea about many different information. For example, the saturation of the color tone, which we can call ‘fuchsia’, is a guide for X-ray intensity. Of course, besides these scientific data, we can say that the image is extremely impressive. The remnant of a supernova that exploded hundreds of years ago looks fascinating in this state, although it may not look like this to the naked eye.
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