The first cosmic X-ray detector, launched in 1962. Credit: NASA <\/p>\n
GREENBELT, Md., June 22 (UPI) -- Cosmic X-ray astronomy turned 50 years old this month, NASA said, highlighting the 1962 pioneer effort of a small team of scientists in the New Mexico desert. <\/p>\n
On June 18, 1962, an X-ray detector, crude by modern standards, was launched from the hot desert sands atop an Aerobee 150 rocket of modest performance, escaping Earth's atmosphere for just 5 minutes 50 seconds and reaching an altitude of 140 miles. <\/p>\n
Researchers eagerly reviewing the data from the pioneering instrument found just one discrete X-ray source, which they named Scorpius X-1, and a broad, diffuse X-ray glow that would come to be known as the cosmic X-ray background, NASA said in a release this week. <\/p>\n
While astronomers had previously detected X-rays from the sun, this was the first detection of X-rays outside our Solar System, and X-ray astronomy was born. <\/p>\n
That crude detector was followed by the first X-ray imaging telescope, sent into space in 1963, in size and shape no bigger than the first optical telescope built by Galileo in 1610. <\/p>\n
It took four centuries for optical telescopes to improve their sensitivity by the same 100 million times factor that X-ray telescopes have managed in just 40 years, leading to the field's current flagship, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
More here: <\/p>\n
X-ray astronomy celebrates anniversary<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The first cosmic X-ray detector, launched in 1962. Credit: NASA GREENBELT, Md., June 22 (UPI) -- Cosmic X-ray astronomy turned 50 years old this month, NASA said, highlighting the 1962 pioneer effort of a small team of scientists in the New Mexico desert. On June 18, 1962, an X-ray detector, crude by modern standards, was launched from the hot desert sands atop an Aerobee 150 rocket of modest performance, escaping Earth's atmosphere for just 5 minutes 50 seconds and reaching an altitude of 140 miles. Continue reading