A researcher from the CRAQ helps NASA open a new window on the Universe |
2012-06-11 | |
NASA is making final preparations to launch its Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, NuSTAR. The mission, which will use X-ray vision to hunt for buried black holes, ultra-dense neutron stars, and supernova remnants, is scheduled to launch no earlier than June 13. Prof. Victoria Kaspi, from McGill and the CRAQ, leads to galactic science team to ensure NuSTAR telescope points to the most exotic objects in the Milky Way.Victoria Kaspi is the Lorne Trottier Chair in Astrophysics, the Canada Research Chair in Observational Astrophysics, Professor of Physics at McGill University, and member of the Centre de Recherche en Astrophysique du Québec. She is among the key NuSTAR team members. In her position of Galactic Science Team Lead, Kaspi is responsible for ensuring the new space telescope points at the most intriguing objects in the Milky Way.Kaspi and her McGill team look forward in particular to using NuSTAR to study, among other things, magnetars, the most highly magnetized stars known in the Universe. NuSTAR will be the first space telescope to create focused images of cosmic X-rays with the highest energies. These are the same types of X-rays that doctors use to see your bones, and airports use to scan your bags. The telescope will have more than 10 times the resolution (ability to see details), and more than 100 times the sensitivity, of its predecessors operating in a similar energy range.
About NuSTAR For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/nustar
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