X- ray telescope sent to observe black holes

China launched its first X- ray space telescope to observe black holes, pulsars and gamma- ray bursts on a Long March- 4B rocket from a launch site in Gansu Province on Thursday morning.

The 2.5- ton Hard X- ray Modulation Telescope ( HXMT), dubbed “Insight,” was sent 550 kilometers above the earth to help scientists better understand the evolution of black holes, strong magnetic fields and the interiors of pulsars.

Through the telescope, scientists will also study how to use pulsars for spacecraft navigation, and search for gammaray bursts corresponding to gravitational waves.

“Insight” can be considered a small space observatory, as it carries three detectors -- the high energy X- ray telescope ( HE), the medium energy X- ray telescope and the low energy X- ray telescope – that cover a broad energy band from 1 keV to 250 keV, Lu Fangjun, chief payload designer, said.

Based on the demodulation technique first proposed by Li Tipei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences ( CAS) in 1993, the HE has a total detection area of more than 5,000 square centimeters, the world’s largest in its energy band.

“Given it has a larger detection area than other X- ray probes, the HXMT can identify more features of known sources,” Xiong Shaolin, a scientist at the CAS’ Institute of High Energy Physics, told the Xinhua News Agency.

The “Insight” is expected to further develop astronomy studies and improve space Xray detection technology in China.