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XMM-Newton to observe Deep Impact

23 June 2005

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The XMM-Newton spacecraft is the biggest science satellite ever built in Europe. Its telescope mirrors are the most powerful developed so far and, with its sensitive detectors, it sees much more than any previous X-ray satellite.

Credits: ESA

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This ESA/NASA Hubble Space Telescope picture of Comet Hale-Bopp shows a remarkable 'pinwheel' pattern and a blob of free-flying debris near the nucleus. The bright clump of light along the spiral (above the nucleus, which is near the centre of the frame) may be a piece of the comet's icy crust that was ejected into space by a combination of ice evaporation and the comet's rotation, and which then disintegrated into a bright cloud of particles.

Credits: H.A. Weaver (Applied Research Corp.), P.D. Feldman (The Johns Hopkins University), and NASA

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ESA’s X-ray space observatory XMM, has been fitted with its three X-ray telescopes. The extremely high-precision Mirror Modules, each with its 58 wafer-thin gold-covered mirror shells which give the mission its unprecedented vision of the X-ray universe.
The scientific objectives of this mission,for high-throughput X-ray spectroscopy,call for a powerfull imaging instrument with the largest possible collecting area, for high-quality spectral measurements of faint sources down to 2x10 -15 erg/cm2/s, together with fast low -and medium- resolution spectroscopy of brighter objects.
An assembly of 51 mirrors, carefully sized, formed and nested one inside another, makes the most sensitive X-ray telescope ever built. XMM will carry three identical telescopes of this kind.
This astrophysics mission is a Cornerstone in ESA’s long-term Space Science Programme Horizon-2000 and the launch took place on 10 of december 1999.

Credits: ESA/A.Van Der Geest

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This optical-ultraviolet image shows a face-on view of the 'grand-design' spiral galaxy M100, about 56 million light years away in the Virgo galaxy cluster. The galaxy is about 100 000 light years across, much like our own spiral galaxy. The position of supernova SN 1979C is marked with a white circle.

The image was taken with XMM-Newton's Optical Monitor in the B, U and UVW1 filters. The streak across the image is from an artifact caused by the camera.

Credits: ESA/NASA/Immer et al.

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