XMM-Newton: 10 years old today!

The XMM-Newton space telescope is celebrating its 10th anniversary in space!

Although there is a huge amount of British involvement in XMM-Newton, it truly is an international mission. In brief...

• Two out of three X-ray camera's were built (and are maintained) in the UK (the EPIC-MOS camera's pictured above-left);
• The optical/UV telescope was built in the UK;
• One X-ray camera (the EPIC-PN) was built in Germany;
• Two spectrometers (the RGS) were built in the Netherlands and the USA;
• All three X-ray mirror modules were built in Italy;
• Data analysis software and data storage by the UK & USA;
• The spacecraft was assembled in the Netherlands;
• The radiation monitors were built in France;
• Continuous XMM-Newton support is based in Spain, with support from the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, and the USA;

XMM-Newton has made some amazing discoveries about the high-energy Universe in that decade. Lots of images from those XMM-Newton discoveries can be found online at the XMM-Newton image gallery, and a slideshow is available on the BBC News online website, narrated by myself (Dr Darren Baskill) and my colleague Dr Kathy Romer here at the University of Sussex's Department of Physics & Astronomy.

The EPIC-MOS cameras were built in the UK by a team led by Martin Turner, who had helped plan and build XMM-Newton over more than 25 years, until his death 6 months ago. The last time I spoke to him, we were discussing how to celebrate XMM-Newton's 10th birthday. All our celebrations of the great success of XMM-Newton are done in the memory of Martin.

X-treme Astronomy: Seeing the Universe through X-ray eyes

by Dr Darren Baskill of the University of Sussex

...is the next Institute of Physics South Central Branch (Brighton Area) lecture, and is to be held at the University of Sussex.

A beautiful clear night full of stars may look poetically peaceful, but it's the biggest illusion known to man. The Universe is violent almost beyond comprehension. Some stars you can see in the night sky are being consumed by their partners; others are violently collapsing in the biggest explosions known to man; and black holes are surrounded by disks of hot gas, the distorted remains of countless stars.
X-rays originate from wherever gas is heated up to millions of degrees in the most energetic phenomena we know of. During this talk you will see the universe as witnessed through the eyes of the latest generation of X-ray telescopes.

X-treme Astronomy - Seeing the Universe through X-ray Eyes
by Dr Darren Baskill of the University of Sussex
7pm, on Tuesday 13th October
Lecture Theatre 1A7
Pevensey 1 Building
University of Sussex


Admission is free and everyone is welcome. Details of how to get to the venue can be found here.

Image: XMM-Newton, Europe's X-ray Space Telescope