The state-of-art observatory marks the first time Canada is a full partner in an earth-orbiting x-ray astronomy mission.
A simulated Black Hole of ten solar masses as seen from a distance of 600km with the Milky Way in the background (Source: Creative Commons/Wikipedia: Gallery of Space Time Travel)
University of Waterloo astrophysicist Brian McNamara, a member of the Science Working Group directing mission science, is available to speak with the media about the observatory’s science plan, which includes gathering data about some the largest structures in our universe great clusters of galaxies and super-massive black holes.
“X-ray telescopes are perfect black hole detectors,” said Professor McNamara, from Waterloo’s Department of Physics and Astronomy. “Most of the mass accelerating towards a black hole is expelled back into space, carrying an enormous amount of energy with it. Black holes are actually some of the most efficient power generators in the Universe.”
The centre of our Milky Way harbours a massive black hole weighting four million times the Sun.
“In fact, we think black holes exist in the centres of all massive galaxies,” says McNamara. “An x-ray observatory of this calibre will allow us to observe this energy emission directly.”
The international mission includes participation from institutions in the US, Canada and Europe, as well as the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the European Space Agency (ESA).
Canada’s participation in the mission was arranged in return for the CSA providing the Canadian ASTRO-H Metrology System (CAMS), a critical laser alignment system for the observatory’s instruments.
The project’s Canadian science team also includes astronomers Dr. Luigi Gallo of Saint Mary’s University (team lead) and Dr. Samar Safi Harb of the University of Manitoba.
Date: Friday, February 12, 2016
Time: 3:45 a.m. (EST)/12:45 a.m. (PST)
Location: Tanegashima Space Center, Japan
