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X-ray Interferometry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2016

Webster Cash*
Affiliation:
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA

Abstract

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X-rays have tremendous potential for imaging at the highest angular resulution. The high surface brightness of many x-ray sources will reveal angular scales heretofore thought unreachable. The short wavelengths make instrumentation compact and baselines short. We discuss how practical x-ray interferometers can be built for astronomy using existing technology. We describe the Maxim Pathfinder and Maxim missions which will achieve 100 and 0.1 micro-arcsecond imaging respectively. The science to be tackled with resolution of up to one million times that of HST will be outlined, with emphasis on eventually imaging the event horizon of a black hole.

Type
Prospects for High Angular Resolution Instrumentation
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2001 

References

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