-
XMM-NEWTON
ESA's XMM satellite, launched on December 10, 1999,
studies
high-energy processes across the universe with unprecedented
sensitivity. Its large collecting area combined with its imaging and
spectral capabilities will give access to thousands of
X-ray sources, ranging from nearby planets and comets to stars,
supernovae, and distant galaxies.
Switzerland's participation in the Reflection Grating Spectrometer RGS
via the Paul Scherrer Insitute
(with
SRON/Netherlands,
MSSL/ UK, and
Columbia University/USA)
started in 1989.
XMM was launched after a flawless launch campaign on
December 10, 1999. During its anticipated
lifetime of ten years, a wealth of new insights into astrophysical processes
is foreseen. At the occasion of the First-Light press release in
Villafranca on February 9, XMM was renamed XMM-NEWTON, in honor of
Isaas Newton, the inventor of spectroscopy.
|
XMM launched, 10 December, 1999
FIRST LIGHT, Feb. 2000
All about XMM
PSI's `Mission' in XMM
X-Ray Multi-Mirror Mission (picture: ESA)
|
