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High Angular Resolution X-ray Imager

The High Angular Resolution X-ray Imager SAG will address the scientific opportunities enabled by ultra-high angular resolution X-ray imaging across broad scientific categories. Hi-ReX SAG membership is open to the astrophysics and technology communities.

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About Hi-ReX SAG

Scientific Analysis for an Ultra-High Angular Resolution X-ray Imager Observatory

Recent advances in X-ray optics, precision formation flying, and high-resolution detectors have made it feasible to pursue milli- to micro-arcsecond (mas to μas) imaging in the X-ray band. Such capability would exceed Chandra’s angular resolution by more than two orders of magnitude and could enable transformative discoveries across a broad spectrum of high-energy astrophysics.

The High Angular Resolution X-ray (Hi-ReX) Imager Science Analysis Group (SAG) will assess the scientific potential of a future flagship-class or probe-class mission with mas to μas imaging resolution, identifying key science drivers, performance requirements, and initial technical considerations, while remaining focused on science. This effort will build on previous and current conceptual studies and recent progress in optics and lens designs.

Subscribe to the Hi-ReX SAG Email List about Scientific Analysis for an Ultra-High Angular Resolution X-ray Imager Observatory
Toward the top, right, and bottom are orange clouds of dust and gas filled with many white, blue, and purple stars. The roughly circular orange clouds look like an open jaw, facing left.
Star Formation and Evolution The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is one of the Milky Way's closest galactic neighbors. Even though it is a small or so-called dwarf galaxy, the SMC is so bright that it is visible to the unaided eye from the Southern Hemisphere and near the equator. Because the SMC is so close and bright, it offers an opportunity to study phenomena that are difficult to examine in more distant galaxies. New Chandra data of the SMC have provided one such discovery: the first detection of X-ray emission from young stars, with masses similar to our Sun, outside our Milky Way galaxy. In this composite image of the Wing, the Chandra data are shown in purple, optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope are shown in red, green, and blue, and infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope are shown in red. Most star formation near the tip of the Wing is occurring in a small region known as NGC 602, which contains a collection of at least three star clusters. One of them, NGC 602a, is similar in age, mass, and size to the famous Orion Nebula Cluster. Using Chandra, astronomers saw extended X-ray emission from the two most densely populated regions in NGC 602a. The extended X-ray cloud likely comes from the population of young, low-mass stars in the cluster, which have previously been picked out by infrared and optical surveys using Spitzer and Hubble, respectively. The combined X-ray, optical, and infrared data also revealed, for the first time outside our galaxy, objects representative of an even younger stage of evolution of a star.
Credit: NASA, ESA, CXC and the University of Potsdam, JPL-Caltech, and STScI

This SAG will address the scientific opportunities enabled by ultra-high angular resolution X-ray imaging across broad scientific categories such as:

  1. Exoplanet Habitability and Exoplanet Host Stars, such as imaging of stellar coronae and flares of exoplanet host stars;
  2. Star Formation and Evolution, including mapping proto-stellar disks and interacting binary systems;
  3. Galactic Astrophysics enabled by high-resolution studies of pulsar wind nebulae, relativistic accretion flows and outflows, and shock fronts;
  4. Extragalactic and Black Hole Physics that can be probed by imaging the immediate surroundings of supermassive black holes to complement recent advancements with the Event Horizon Telescope; and
  5. Fundamental Physics and Cosmology, such as testing general relativity near event horizons via direct imaging and reverberation mapping.

Hi-ReX SAG Chairs

NameInstitution
Kimberly WeaverNASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Herman MarshallMIT Kavli Institute
Mark SchattenburgMIT Kavli Institute
Breanna BinderCal Poly Pomona

The SAG will organize its work into scientific thematic working groups (WGs) tasked with identifying technical capabilities (including but not limited to energy bandpass, imaging resolution, field of view, throughput, effective area, etc.) required to achieve significant progress in the “state of the art” scientific understanding of each thematic area.

The final deliverable will be a community-vetted report to NASA HQ in June 2026 detailing the science case, technical drivers, and recommendations for future studies of an ultra-high angular resolution X-ray mission.

News & Events

Meetings, conferences, seminars, workshops, and other news and events for Hi ReX SAG
Hi-ReX SAG Kickoff Meeting 17 Dec 2025

Hi-ReX SAG will have a kick-off meeting next week on Wednesday, December 17, at 12pm EST (9am PST).

Dec 12, 2025
Topic
High Angular Resolution X-ray Imager Science Analysis Group (Hi-ReX SAG)

This SAG will address the scientific opportunities enabled by ultra-high angular resolution X-ray imaging across broad scientific categories such as: Hi-ReX SAG Chairs Name Institution Kimberly Weaver NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Herman Marshall MIT Kavli Institute Mark Schattenburg MIT…

Nov 21, 2025
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This cropped horizontal image has layers of semi-opaque rusty red colored gas and dust that starts at the bottom right and goes toward the top left. There are three prominent pillars rising toward the top left. The left pillar is the largest and widest. The peaks of the second and third pillars are set off in darker shades of brown and have red outlines.