| | |  | XMM-Newton artist's impression | |
A year after lift-off, XMM-Newton is impressing the X-ray astronomy community
23 November 2000
ESA PR N° 76-2000 A year after launch, ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray observatory is fully living up to its promise with a steady stream of fascinating data. To mark the anniversary and to present the first sample of the mission's scientific results, the media are invited to a press conference to be held at European Space Agency headquarters in Paris on 6 December.
XMM-Newton was launched from Kourou on 10 December 1999 on the first Ariane-5 commercial flight. After in-orbit commissioning of the spacecraft, and calibration and performance verification of its science instruments, the observatory entered its routine operations phase on 1 July.
At the press conference, ESA's Director of Science Prof. Roger-Maurice Bonnet and XMM-Newton Project Scientist Fred Jansen will present some of the many scientific results from the first eight months of the mission. Also present will be two of Europe's foremost X-ray astronomers, Prof. Johan Bleeker of the Space Research Organisation of the Netherlands, and Prof. Guenther Hasinger of the Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam, Germany.
Amongst the topics to be illustrated with some remarkably vivid "colour" images of the X-ray Universe, will be XMM-Newton's first examination of a cataclysmic binary star, its first insights into some enigmatic black hole systems, analysis of the morphology of a few supernovae remnants, and evidence it has collected to end the long-standing mystery over X-ray cosmic background emission…
The press conference will also recap on the spacecraft’s operations, the performance of its science instruments, the issue of radiation constraints and future aspects of the mission.
Media representatives wishing to attend the press event are kindly invited to complete the accreditation form.
Press conference timetable
ESA Headquarters, 8-10 rue Mario Nikis, Paris 15, France
6 December, 2000 – 10h30
| 10:30 | Welcome and introduction Dr Fred Jansen, ESA – XMM Project Scientist |
| 10:40 | XMM science results - part I Prof. Guenther Hasinger, Astrophysikalisches Institut Postdam, Germany |
| 10:55 | XMM science results – part II Prof. Johan Bleeker, Space Research Organisation of the Netherlands |
| 11:10 | Conclusions Prof. Roger-Maurice Bonnet, ESA Director of Science |
| 11:15 | Question & answer session |
| 11:30 | End of conference |
| |
