Advanced Search

The story appears on

Page A6

July 20, 2017

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Nation

X-ray space telescope sends back first data ahead of full operation

Source: Xinhua | 00:01 UTC+8 July 20, 2017 | Print Edition

CHINA’S first X-ray astronomical satellite, launched in mid June, is expected to start regular observation in November with its data open to scientists all over the world.

The 2.5-ton Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope, dubbed Insight, transmitted its first data to a ground station on its second day in orbit.

The data proved to be of good quality, and the telescope detected a gamma-ray burst 10 days after launch.

HXMT carries a trio of detectors that cover a broad energy band to help scientists better understand the evolution of black holes and the strong magnetic fields and interiors of pulsars.

“We will finish calibrating all instruments within the first five months in orbit before Insight starts regular observation,” said scientist Song Liming, deputy chief designer of the project’s ground segment.

Song and his team solicited observation proposals from scientists around the country last year, and drew up a one-year observation plan after evaluating 90 proposals.

Fellow scientist and ground segment designer Qu Jinlu said: “We divide the galactic plane into 19 sky zones. It will take the telescope over two hours to scan each and about two days to finish the whole, if we don’t count the time to avoid the sun.”

Song said experts who had contributed to the project, both at home and abroad, and those who had their proposals adopted will be able to access and use the observation data exclusively for one year, in line with international practice.

“After one year, the data will be open to everybody. Even middle school students will be able to download our data, if they are interested,” Song said.

“We will process the original data into products that are up to international standards, so that it’s easy for scientists from around the world to analyze for further information, such as the energy spectrum or light curve,” Song added.

Before joining the project, Song was researching the high-energy radiation of pulsars.

Like most domestic astronomers, he relied on data from foreign satellites in his research, but had never thought how to build a data system.

Song and his co-workers went abroad to learn by asking all kinds of “silly” questions.

But sometimes, they had to figure out answers by themselves. “For example, we had no idea where the background data of those foreign satellites came from, which forced us to study the problem from the very beginning,” he said.

“We got to know the whole structure and detailed procedures when building the science ground segment, which is our biggest achievement and will help us better support new satellites in future.”

Nation


 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend