Tag Archives: IXPEs

NASA IXPE’s ‘Heartbeat Black Hole’ Measurements Challenge Current Theories

NASA IXPE’s ‘Heartbeat Black Hole’ Measurements Challenge Current Theories

Written by Michael Allen An international team of astronomers using NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer), has challenged our understanding of what happens to matter in the direct vicinity of a black hole. With IXPE, astronomers can study incoming X-rays and measure the polarization, a property of light that describes the direction of its electric field. The polarization degree is …

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