{"id":3710,"date":"2025-05-07T01:02:48","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T19:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=3710"},"modified":"2025-05-29T11:09:31","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T05:39:31","slug":"imaging-x-ray-polarimetry-explorer-ixpe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/imaging-x-ray-polarimetry-explorer-ixpe\/","title":{"rendered":"Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) Latest News<\/h2>\n<p>NASA\u2019s IXPE Unlocks X-ray Emission Mystery in Black Hole Jets<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: 35px; font-style: inherit;\">What is IXPE?<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer)<\/strong>\u00a0is a joint mission of\u00a0<strong>NASA and the Italian Space Agency<\/strong>, launched on\u00a0<strong>December 9, 2021<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>It is the\u00a0<strong>first satellite<\/strong>\u00a0capable of\u00a0<strong>measuring the polarisation of X-ray light<\/strong>, a key feature for understanding high-energy astrophysical phenomena.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What are Blazars and Why BL Lacertae Matters?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Blazars<\/strong>\u00a0are a type of\u00a0<strong>active galactic nuclei (AGN)<\/strong>\u00a0where a\u00a0<strong>supermassive black hole<\/strong>\u00a0ejects a\u00a0<strong>relativistic jet<\/strong>\u00a0of particles oriented directly toward Earth.<\/li>\n<li><strong>BL Lacertae (BL Lac)<\/strong>\u00a0is a\u00a0<strong>well-known blazar<\/strong>\u00a0and among the first discovered. It is located in the\u00a0<strong>Lacerta constellation<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>It is distinguished by its\u00a0<strong>high variability<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>intense electromagnetic emissions<\/strong>, making it a suitable candidate for polarisation studies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Scientific Discovery by IXPE \u2013 Key Findings<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The mission aimed to solve the\u00a0<strong>long-standing mystery<\/strong>\u00a0of\u00a0<strong>how X-rays are generated<\/strong>\u00a0in black hole jets.<\/li>\n<li>Two competing theories existed:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Proton-based models<\/strong>\u00a0(would result in\u00a0<strong>high X-ray polarization<\/strong>).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Electron-based models<\/strong>\u00a0(would result in\u00a0<strong>low X-ray polarization<\/strong>).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>IXPE&#8217;s observations<\/strong>\u00a0found that the\u00a0<strong>X-rays emitted from BL Lac&#8217;s jets were only weakly polarized<\/strong>\u00a0(no more than\u00a0<strong>7.6%<\/strong>).<\/li>\n<li>Simultaneously, the\u00a0<strong>optical light was highly polarised<\/strong>\u00a0(as high as\u00a0<strong>47.5%<\/strong>, the highest ever recorded for a blazar).<\/li>\n<li>This clear contrast confirmed that the\u00a0<strong>X-rays are not generated by protons<\/strong>, but rather through\u00a0<strong>electron-photon interactions<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Compton Scattering<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The phenomenon responsible is\u00a0<strong>Compton Scattering<\/strong>, where\u00a0<strong>high-speed electrons<\/strong>\u00a0scatter\u00a0<strong>infrared photons<\/strong>, boosting them to\u00a0<strong>X-ray energies<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>This interaction provides a direct link between\u00a0<strong>relativistic electron activity<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>X-ray generation<\/strong>\u00a0in extreme environments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) FAQs<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Q1.\u00a0<\/strong>What is IXPE?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong>\u00a0IXPE is a space-based X-ray telescope launched by NASA to study the polarisation of X-rays emitted by cosmic objects.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q2.\u00a0<\/strong>When was IXPE launched?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong>\u00a0IXPE was launched on December 9, 2021, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2025-05-nasa-ixpe-reveals-ray-generating.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">PHY<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) is a joint mission of NASA and the Italian Space Agency, launched on December 9, 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":47164,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[398,21,23],"class_list":{"0":"post-3710","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"tag-imaging-x-ray-polarimetry-explorer-ixpe","9":"tag-prelims-pointers","10":"tag-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","11":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}