Science Goals
Artist's concept of a black hole with jets
Chandra X-ray image of the Crab supernova remnant
The Constellation-X Mission is an array of X-ray telescopes in tight orbit working in unison to improve our view of the X-ray Universe by a hundredfold.
The Constellation-X satellites will house high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy telescopes, which collect high-energy X-rays produced by cataclysmic events and interpret those X-rays as spectra. Spectra are fingerprints of the chemicals producing the X-rays – a breakdown of light into its component colors, much like a prism separates white light into a rainbow. In this regard, these telescopes are the X-ray astronomy equivalent of large ground-based optical telescopes, such as the Keck Observatory and the ESO Very Large Telescope.
When observations commence by the end of this decade, Constellation-X will begin to address the many pressing issues challenging our current understanding of the laws of physics.
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Strong Gravity
Constellation-X observations of iron spectra in massive black holes will test Einstein's Theory of General Relativity in an environment of extreme gravity.
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Dark Matter
Scientists have yet to locate much of the matter that should have been produced by the Big Bang and subsequent nuclear reactions in stars. Constellation-X will search for this matter, called baryons, in places such as the optically dark and seemingly empty regions between galaxies. Constellation-X will also trace regions of "dark matter" – non-luminous matter that scientists cannot see with telescopes but can detect nonetheless because of the unseen matter's gravitational effects on nearby stars and galaxies.
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Black Holes
Constellation-X will also determine how black holes evolve and produce energy, thus providing critical information about the total energy output of the Universe.
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Life Cycles
Ever wonder where the iron in your blood comes from? It was made in the cores of stars that exploded billions of years ago. The Universe does not waste matter and energy. Gas from old stars is used to make new ones; heavier elements from dead stars form comets and planets.
