X-ray astronomy is the research area focused on detecting, imaging, and spectroscopically analyzing cosmic sources of X-ray photons, typically in the energy range of ~0.1–100 keV. Because Earth’s atmosphere is opaque to X-rays, this field relies on space-based observatories employing grazing-incidence optics, focusing telescopes, and high-resolution detectors such as CCDs, microcalorimeters, and proportional counters. X-ray astronomy probes high-energy astrophysical processes, including accretion onto compact objects, hot intracluster gas, supernova remnants, stellar coronae, and relativistic jets, enabling quantitative studies of extreme environments, plasma conditions, strong gravity, and energetic feedback in galaxies and large-scale structure.
On July 2, 2025, the China-led Einstein Probe (EP) space telescope detected an exceptionally bright X-ray source whose brightness varied rapidly during a routine sky survey. Its unusual signal immediately set it apart from ...
Astronomy
Feb 10, 2026
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Gigantic black holes lurk at the center of virtually every galaxy, including ours, but we've lacked a precise picture of what impact they have on their surroundings. However, a University of Chicago-led group of scientists ...
Astronomy
Feb 3, 2026
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New simulations performed on a NASA supercomputer are providing scientists with the most comprehensive look yet into the maelstrom of interacting magnetic structures around city-sized neutron stars in the moments before they ...
Astronomy
Jan 29, 2026
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Astronomers at The University of Manchester have played a leading role in the discovery of a new cosmic object that is much larger than anything astronomers have seen before in the distant universe. This new discovery captures ...
Astronomy
Jan 28, 2026
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When astronomers look out into the cosmos, they see supermassive black holes (SMBH) in two different states. In one state, they're dormant. They're actively accreting only a tiny amount of matter and emit only faint, weak ...
Astronomy
Jan 28, 2026
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Using various space telescopes and ground-based facilities, astronomers have performed X-ray and radio observations of an accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar known as MAXI J1957+032. Results of the observational campaign, ...
Like a recording artist who has had a long career, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has a "back catalog" of cosmic recordings that is impossible to replicate. To access these X-ray tracks, or observations, the ultimate compendium ...
Astronomy
Jan 25, 2026
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Using the Einstein Probe (EP), astronomers from China and Germany have observed a nearby galaxy cluster known as Abell 3571. Results of the observational campaign, published January 8 on the arXiv pre-print server, provide ...
Astronomers using the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NSF NRAO) instruments, the U.S. National Science Foundation Very Large Array (NSF VLA) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter ...
Astronomy
Jan 11, 2026
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The X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM), a joint mission between the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA, launched on Sept. 7th, 2023. Its advanced imaging filters and spectrometers were designed ...
Astronomy
Jan 10, 2026
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