12pm Launch: NASA's Pegasus XL rocket
By Sam Kantrow on June 13, 2012, 11:05am
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Note: The rocket has launched successfully at 12pm EST.
You're watching what looks like two white circles shaking around, but the NuSTAR rocket, strapped to the bottom of an airplane has a big significance to researching black holes. The problem with a black hole is that we can't see it. A black hole can only be seen by viewing the absence of light in space, so being able to see all of the surrounding light clearly will help us get a better understanding of how they form, and what happens when they do. If you couldn't care less about black holes, at least we've got some cool live video footage. The rocket is scheduled to drop from the airplane and launch into space at noon.
Check out the image above. "This image comparison demonstrates NuSTAR's improved ability to focus high-energy X-ray light into sharp images. The image on the left, taken by the European Space Agency's INTEGRAL satellite, shows high-energy X-rays from galaxies beyond our own. The light is "unresolved," meaning that individual objects creating the light -- in particular, the active supermassive black holes -- cannot be distinguished.
The image on the right shows a simulated view of what NuSTAR will see at comparable wavelengths. NuSTAR will be able to identify individual black holes making up the diffuse X-ray glow, also called the X-ray background. The observatory will have 100 times better sensitivity than its predecessors, and 10 times sharper resolution. It will probe deeper into the mysterious regions surrounding black holes, and will discover never-before-seen black holes enshrouded in dust."
Image credit: ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech
Above is what the actual telescope looks like. The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) has a complex set of mirrors that will help it see high energy X-ray light in greater detail than ever before.
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