e-ROSITA

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Context

• The German eROSITA consortium has released the data for its share of the first all-sky survey by the soft X-ray imaging telescope flying aboard the Spectrum-RG (SRG) satellite.
• With about 900,000 distinct sources, the first eROSITA All-Sky Survey (eRASS1) has yielded the largest X-ray catalog ever published.
• The work is published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Details

• eROSITA is an X-ray instrument developed by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) in Germany.
• It is part of the Russian–German Spektr-RG space observatory, launched by Roscosmos on July 13, 2019.
• eROSITA is designed to observe the entire sky in the X-ray band, providing valuable data on a wide range of celestial objects.

Mission Overview

• Launched: July 13, 2019, from Baikonur.
• Deployment: Placed in a 6-month halo orbit around the second Lagrange point (L2).
• Original Design: Initially intended for the International Space Station (ESA), later adapted for the dedicated Spektr-RG mission.
• Data Collection: Began in October 2019.
• Breakdown: Data collection halted on February 26, 2022, due to the breakdown of institutional cooperation between Germany and Russia after the invasion of Ukraine.

Scientific Goals

• Sky Survey: Intended to image the entire sky in the 2-10 keV X-ray band.
• Sensitivity: Expected to be 25 times more sensitive than the ROSAT mission in the 0.3-2 keV band.
• Targets: Aims to detect 100,000 galaxy clusters, 3 million active galactic nuclei, and 700,000 stars in the Milky Way.
• Dark Energy Study: Primary science goal is to measure dark energy through the structure and history of the Universe traced by galaxy clusters.

Instruments on Spektr-RG

• eROSITA: X-ray telescope developed by Max Planck Institute.
• ART-XC: X-ray telescope developed by IKI / VNIIEF (Russia).

PRACTICE QUESTION Q. What is eROSITA? a) Lunar Rover developed by NASA b) X-ray instrument for space observation c) Satellite for weather monitoring d) Mars exploration spacecraft Answer: b)