Humanity’s knowledge of the universe is a constant effort to reach the farthest edges of what’s out “there”, but the search is constantly limited by the dearth of technology that can peer into the murky depths of the far reaches of space.
The current technology we have is amazing, it can scan the sky within hours but it can only “see” the brightest sources, or focus on specific sources.
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However, China has now developed a space telescope that can do a wider and deeper x-ray of the universe.
The nation successfully tested the world’s first “lobster eye” space telescope that will be able to capture x-ray images of the universe with unprecedented efficiency.
As per the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the device called Lobster Eye Imager for Astronomy or LEIA has successfully clicked high-quality images of X-ray sources of the centre of our galaxy, the Magellanic Clouds and the Scorpius constellation. The achievement was reported in the peer-reviewed journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters last week.
The mission’s chief scientist, astrophysicist Yuan Weimin of Beijing’s National Astronomical Observatory said that his team was excited about LEIA’s results and that the results have “shown that our technology works and the observation precision exceeded our expectation.”
The so-called ‘lobster eye’ telescope gains its name from crustaceans such as lobster and shrimp who have evolved to develop a way to adapt their eyes to murky depths underwater.
LEIA’s technology will reportedly be part of the Einstein Probe that is being developed by Chinese and European scientists and is scheduled to be sent into orbit late next year.
(With inputs from agencies)
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