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arXiv · astro-ph/9901154

Science with the Constellation-X Observatory

Azita Valinia·Nicholas White·Harvey Tananbaum·the Constellation-X Team
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Abstract

The Constellation X-ray Mission is a high throughput X-ray facility emphasizing observations at high spectral resolution (E/ΔE \sim 300-3000), and broad energy bandpass (0.25-40 keV). Constellation-X will provide a factor of nearly 100 increase in sensitivity over current high resolution X-ray spectroscopy missions. It is the X-ray astronomy equivalent of large ground-based optical telescopes such as the Keck Observatory and the ESO Very Large Telescope. When observations commence toward the end of next decade, Constellation-X will address many fundamental astrophysics questions such as: the formation and evolution of clusters of galaxies; constraining the baryon content of the Universe; determining the spin and mass of supermassive black holes in AGN; and probing strong gravity in the vicinity of black holes.

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Azita Valinia, Nicholas White, Harvey Tananbaum, the Constellation-X Team. 1999-01-12. Science with the Constellation-X Observatory. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.58631

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