Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics

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The Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics (ATHENA) is the project of a space X-ray telescope of the European Space Agency ESA . In the event of a positive decision to implement the project, the telescope should be Template: future / in 5 yearsstarted in 2031 . The decision is expected in 2021.

The scientific goals of ATHENA are primarily the measurement of the distribution, the state and the movement of hot gas in intergalactic space, the search for black holes, and the investigation of events such as supernova explosions and stellar flares.

History of the project

After the launch of the two X-ray telescopes Chandra and XMM-Newton in 1999, NASA and ESA intensified the planning for subsequent, more powerful X-ray observatories. ESA planned the XEUS telescope , which was temporarily merged with NASA's Constellation X project to form an International X-ray Observatory IXO. After none of these projects were able to prevail, the ATHENA project finally succeeded in gaining the status of the second major mission (L2) in 2014 as part of the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 program of the ESA.

Telescope and instruments

The ATHENA telescope will have a focal length of 12 m. By using a new mirror technology made of many closely stacked silicon wafers (silicon pore optics), a high effective collecting surface of around 2 m² with a photon energy of 1 keV is achieved despite the grazing incidence of light required for X-ray telescopes. Planned instruments are:

  • Wide field imager: camera with a large field of view but low spectral resolution, in further development of similar cameras on z. B. XMM or eROSITA .
  • X-ray Integral Field Unit: Spectrally high-resolution imaging microcalorimeter with a moderate field of view.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ ATHENA Mission Summary , accessed on January 25, 2020.