In collaboration with six Japanese universities, JAXA and RIKEN, who have teamed up over recent years to develop the largest wide-field X-ray camera in the world, known as MAXI (short for “monitor of all-sky X-ray image”), have announced that they will release data acquired by the new camera onto the internet for use by the general public. Streamed from MAXI’s perch atop the International Space Station’s Japanese Experimental Module, the data will provide views of the universe that have never before been seen or analyzed.
The universe is full of fascinating astronomical phenomena, including quasars, black holes, neutron stars and relativistic jets. But absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere, X-rays emitted by these objects never reach ground level, making observation of these objects impossible by ground-based observatories. MAXI makes these observations from space at a level of sensitivity higher than any other all-sky camera to date, scanning the sky every 90 minutes and collecting observational data on changes in X-ray intensity.
Observations by MAXI are performed using multiple gas and solid-state slit cameras, and the data are processed, calibrated and transmitted immediately, providing updates within one day of actual observation. The data acquired so far cover roughly 100 astronomical objects, and JAXA and RIKEN plan to ultimately release data for a much larger number of phenomena and for time scales extending from days to months. And thanks to a notification system currently being established, any emergence or brightening of astronomical X-ray objects detected by MAXI will be shared immediately with the public through email alerts advising of the time of origin, position and intensity.
MAXI’s high sensitivity means that its observations can go beyond our galaxy to monitor extra-galactic X-ray activity by objects such as quasars. It’s all-sky coverage also complements the features of another Japanese X-ray camera known as Suzaku. Launched in 2005, Suzaku focuses on a very limited region of the sky at a sensitivity level several thousand times higher than that achieved by MAXI. By directing Suzaku’s high-sensitivity telescopes toward interesting objects, MAXI promises to open a new window onto never-before-seen places in our universe for people from across the world to explore.
