• UGI USER
  • Jan 03, 2024
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ISRO’S XPOSAT LAUNCH IN POINTS

Mission Overview:

  • ISRO successfully launched XPoSat, India’s first X-ray Polarimeter Satellite, marking the start of the ‘Gaganyaan year.’
  • The launch took place from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre using PSLV-C58, placing XPoSat in a precise 650 km circular orbit.

Key Highlights:

  • XPoSat is the world’s second X-ray polarimeter mission after NASA’s IXPE launched in 2021.
  • It houses two payloads, POLIX and XSPECT, designed by institutions in Bengaluru, focusing on studying X-ray polarization from cosmic sources like black holes and neutron stars.
Source: Nature
About black holes

·   A black hole is a region in space with immense gravitational pull, so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape it.

·   Formed from the collapse of massive stars, black holes have a singularity at their centre, a point of infinite density.

·   Their properties defy conventional physics, making them mysterious celestial objects that profoundly influence surrounding space and time.

About neutron stars

·   Neutron stars are remnants of massive stars that have undergone supernova explosions.

·   Extremely dense, they pack more mass than the Sun into a city-sized radius. Composed mostly of neutrons, they result from the collapse of a star’s core.

·   Intense gravity on their surface causes exotic phenomena like strong magnetic fields and rapid rotation, making them crucial in astrophysical research.