IXPE Stories
IXPE Operations Update
Editor’s Note, April 3, 2024: IXPE resumed normal science operations on April 3. Learn more https://blogs.nasa.gov/ixpe/2024/04/03/ixpe-operations-update-2/. On March 23, NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) stopped transmitting valid telemetry data. The only previous interruption of IXPE science observations was due…
NASA’s IXPE Awarded Prestigious Prize in High-energy Astronomy
NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) team has been awarded a top prize in high-energy astronomy. The High Energy Astrophysics Division of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) has awarded the 2024 Bruno Rossi Prize to retired NASA astrophysicist Martin Weisskopf,…
NASA’s IXPE Helps Researchers Maximize ‘Microquasar’ Findings
The powerful gravity fields of black holes can devour whole planets’ worth of matter – often so violently that they expel streams of particles traveling near the speed of light in formations known as jets. Scientists understand that these high-speed…
NASA’s IXPE Marks Two Years of Groundbreaking X-ray Astronomy
On Dec. 9, astronomers and physicists will commemorate two years of landmark X-ray science by NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) mission. IXPE is the joint NASA-Italian Space Agency mission to study polarized X-ray light. Polarization is a characteristic of…
NASA X-ray Telescopes Reveal the “Bones” of a Ghostly Cosmic Hand
In 1895, Wilhelm Röntgen discovered X-rays and used them to image the bones in his wife’s hand, kicking off a revolutionary diagnostic tool for medicine. Now two of NASA’s X-ray space telescopes have combined their imaging powers to unveil the…
IXPE Untangles Theories Surrounding Historic Supernova Remnant
NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) telescope has captured the first polarized X-ray imagery of the supernova remnant SN 1006. The new results expand scientists’ understanding of the relationship between magnetic fields and the flow of high-energy particles from exploding…
NASA’s IXPE Fires Up Astronomers With New Blazar Findings
An international team of astrophysicists, using new data from NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), published findings about the blazar called Markarian 421 – which offered some surprising results.
Milky Way’s Central Black Hole Woke Up 200 Years Ago, NASA’s IXPE Finds
Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, woke some 200 years ago to devour cosmic debris, according to new findings from NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer.
Galaxy With Black Hole Shines In Image From NASA’s Chandra, IXPE
In the center of this galaxy is a supermassive black hole feeding off the gas and dust encircling it, and large jets of high-energy particles and other material spewing out.
Historic Nebula Seen Like Never Before With NASA’s IXPE
On Feb. 22, 1971, a sounding rocket lifted off from Wallops Island, Virginia, with specialized sensors aimed at the Crab Nebula, a bright cosmic object 6,500 light-years away. In those days, before recovering physical tapes from the experiment, scientists first…