OAC in orbit with IXPE!

The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is a mission selected in January 2017 for NASA’s SMEX (SMall EXplorer) programme. It is a partnership mission with the Italian Space Agency, as the Italian research bodies INAF and INFN will develop the core of the project, namely the scientific instrument.

IXPE will be launched in April 2021 and will measure the polarisation of X-ray emitting celestial sources in unprecedented detail, forty years after the last X-ray polarimetry mission, OSO-8. The data collected during the two-year mission will allow for a more in-depth investigation of the nature of X-ray emissions from growing black holes, pulsars and neutron stars in binary systems. The Cagliari Astronomical Observatory is one of the INAF institutes involved and has played and will continue to play a leading role in the technical and scientific development of IXPE.

This will be the first in a series of technical and scientific astro-chats illustrating the contribution of the OAC IXPE team to the mission.

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Today, Astro Chiacchiere! is an informal meeting between the staff of the Cagliari Astronomical Observatory (staff, postdocs and students), which aims to discuss topics of a mainly scientific, technological and informative nature concerning the activities of the Observatory. The meeting is usually held on Tuesdays at 11:30 a.m. in the Auditorium of the Cagliari Astronomical Observatory. For information and/or contributions, please contact vvacca@oa-cagliari.inaf.it and surcis@oa-cagliari.inaf.it