[Launch News] NuSTAR atop Pegasus XL, June 13, 2012

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Stage 3 ignition! (stage 2 has separated)

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Spacecraft separation and orbital insertion complete! Congratulations to Orbital and NASA for a successful launch!

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Stage 3 has worked as planned.... and now S/C separation! Congratulations!

[Codz]

Solar array deployment occuring now.

---------- Post added at 04:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:16 PM ----------

Solar array deployment complete. Welcome to space NuSTAR!

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NuSTAR Launch - YouTube

NuSTAR Launch - YouTube

NASA: NASA's NuSTAR Mission Lifts Off

SPACE.com: NASA Launches Space Telescope to Hunt Black Holes

CBS News Space: NuSTAR X-ray telescope launched on mission to search for black holes

The Planetary Society Blog: Successful launch for NuSTAR on a Pegasus XL

Discover Magazine - Bad Astronomy: NuSTAR launches into orbit!

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Just came across this video.

Processing Highlights of NuSTAR and Pegasus Rocket

[NuSTAR] Processing Highlights of NuSTAR and Pegasus Rocket - YouTube

[NuSTAR] Processing Highlights of NuSTAR and Pegasus Rocket - YouTube

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SPACE.com: Black Hole-Hunting Space Telescope to Unfurl Giant Mast Today

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NASA: NuSTAR Mission Status Report: Observatory Unfurls its Unique Mast:

Quote:

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has successfully deployed its lengthy mast, giving it the ability to see the highest energy X-rays in our universe. The mission is one step closer to beginning its hunt for black holes hiding in our Milky Way and other galaxies.

"It's a real pleasure to know that the mast, an accomplished feat of engineering, is now in its final position," said Yunjin Kim, the NuSTAR project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Kim was also the project manager for the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, which flew a similar mast on the Space Shuttle Endeavor in 2000 and made topographic maps of Earth.

NuSTAR's mast is one of several innovations allowing the telescope to take crisp images of high-energy X-rays for the first time. It separates the telescope mirrors from the detectors, providing the distance needed to focus the X-rays. Built by ATK Aerospace Systems in Goleta, Calif., this is the first deployable mast ever used on a space telescope.

On June 21 at 10:43 a.m. PDT (1:43 p.m. EDT), nine days after launch, engineers at NuSTAR's mission control at UC Berkeley in California sent a signal to the spacecraft to start extending the 33-foot (10-meter) mast, a stable, rigid structure consisting of 56 cube-shaped units. Driven by a motor, the mast steadily inched out of a canister as each cube was assembled one by one. The process took about 26 minutes. Engineers and astronomers cheered seconds after they received word from the spacecraft that the mast was fully deployed and secure.

The NuSTAR team will now begin to verify the pointing and motion capabilities of the satellite, and fine-tune the alignment of the mast. In about five days, the team will instruct NuSTAR to take its "first light" pictures, which are used to calibrate the telescope.

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NASA JPL: NuSTAR Mission Status Report: Observatory Unfurls its Unique Mast

SPACE.com: New Black Hole Space Telescope Unfolds 33-Foot Mast in Orbit

Universe Today: NuSTAR Successfully Deploys Huge Mast

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NASA:
NuSTAR Mission Status Report

June 27, 2012

After deploying its mast, the NuSTAR observatory began a series of checkout procedures. The procedures include measuring the alignment of all the components of the spacecraft systems that determine the pointing direction of the telescope, and bringing the X-ray digital cameras online. The team tuned up the spacecraft so that the long telescope can be pointed accurately at different locations in the sky, and they are completing the process of making the pointing direction accurate.

The X-ray digital cameras were turned on so that the team can tune up their performance. The cameras are operating well. A calibration source was inserted in the field, and it has been determined that the cameras are accurately measuring the energy of incoming X-rays. The team is preparing for the first-light images on Thursday.

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NASA / NASA JPL:
Space Telescope Opens Its X-Ray Eyes

June 28, 2012

NuSTAR Mission Status Report

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has snapped its first test images of the sizzling high-energy X-ray universe. The observatory, launched June 13, is the first space telescope with the ability to focus high-energy X-rays, the same kind used by doctors and dentists, into crisp images.

Soon, the mission will begin its exploration of hidden black holes; fiery cinder balls left over from star explosions; and other sites of extreme physics in our cosmos.

"Today, we obtained the first-ever focused images of the high-energy X-ray universe," said Fiona Harrison, the mission's principal investigator at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, who first conceived of NuSTAR about 15 years ago. "It's like putting on a new pair of glasses and seeing aspects of the world around us clearly for the first time."

Click on image for details
NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has taken its first snapshots of the highest-energy X-rays in the cosmos (lower right), producing images that are much crisper than previous high-energy telescopes (example in upper right). NuSTAR chose a black hole in the constellation Cygnus (shown in the skymap on the left) as its first target due to its brightness. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NuSTAR's lengthy mast, which provides the telescope mirrors and detectors with the distance needed to focus X-rays, was deployed on June 21. The NuSTAR team spent the next week verifying the pointing and motion capabilities of the satellite, and fine-tuning the alignment of the mast.

The first images from the observatory show Cygnus X-1, a black hole in our galaxy that is siphoning gas off a giant-star companion. This particular black hole was chosen as a first target because it is extremely bright in X-rays, allowing the NuSTAR team to easily see where the telescope's focused X-rays are falling on the detectors.

In the next two weeks, the team will point at two other bright calibration targets: G21.5-0.9, the remnant of a supernova explosion that occurred several thousand years ago in our own Milky Way galaxy; and 3C273, an actively feeding black hole, or quasar, located 2 billion light-years away at the center of another galaxy. These targets will be used to make a small adjustment to place the X-ray light at the optimum spot on the detector, and to further calibrate and understand the telescope in preparation for future science observations.

Other telescopes, including NASA's Swift and Chandra space telescopes, and the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton, will look at 3C273 in coordination with NuSTAR, helping to further calibrate the telescope.

The mission's primary observing program is expected to commence within two weeks.

"This is a really exciting time for the team," said Daniel Stern, the NuSTAR project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "We can already see the power of NuSTAR to crack open the high-energy X-ray universe and reveal secrets that were impossible to get at before."

Throughout its two-year prime mission, NuSTAR will turn its focused gaze on the most energetic objects in the universe, producing images with 100 times the sensitivity and 10 times the resolution of its predecessors operating at similar wavelength ranges. It will take a census of black holes both inside and outside of our Milky Way galaxy, and answer questions about how this enigmatic cosmic "species" behaves and evolves. Because it sees high-energy X-rays, NuSTAR will also probe farther into the dynamic regions around black holes, where matter is heated to temperatures as high as hundreds of millions of degrees, and will measure how fast black holes are spinning.

Other targets for the mission include the burnt-out remains of dead stars, such as those that exploded as supernovae; high-speed jets; the temperamental surface of our sun; and the structures where galaxies cluster together like mega-cities.

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Universe Today: First Light Image for NuSTAR

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NASA:
NuSTAR Mission Status Report

July 27, 2012

NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) passed its Post-Launch Assessment Review at JPL this week, clearing the way for the mission to enter into its science operations phase in the next month. NuSTAR is currently in the final stages of "Phase C/D," or the design and development phase, which included building and testing the flight hardware, launch and early operations (e.g., spacecraft checkout, mast deployment, instrument commissioning and calibrations). In August, NuSTAR will enter "Phase E," or the operations phase, meaning that it will primarily gather science data.

Since obtaining its first-light images of the galactic black hole Cygnus X-1 on June 28, NuSTAR has been observing bright X-ray sources across the sky as part of the instrument commissioning. Last week, the mission participated in a major international cross-calibration campaign where NuSTAR and NASA's Chandra and Swift telescopes, together with INTEGRAL, Suzaku, and XMM-Newton, observed the quasar 3C 273 in concert. Quasar 3C 273, an extremely bright high-energy source at a distance of 2.4 billion light years, is the first quasar ever to be identified and is the optically brightest quasar in the sky. The coordinated observations of this bright, variable source will allow X-ray satellites to accurately measure their relative sensitivities and to conduct science investigations with joint data sets.

One example of a joint science observation took place between July 21 and 24. NuSTAR observed the supermassive black hole that resides at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy as part of a large, multi-wavelength campaign. This supermassive black hole, our closest example, is known as Sagittarius A* and weighs approximately 4 million times as much as the sun. NuSTAR obtained high-energy X-ray data on Sagittarius A*, complementing coordinated infrared images obtained with the Keck telescopes, low-energy X-ray data obtained with Chandra, and very high-energy gamma-ray data obtained with the High-Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS). These data will monitor the flickering of Sagittarius A* as it grows by accreting matter, thereby teaching astronomers about the extreme environments around black holes and the physics of black hole growth.

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SPACE.com: NASA's Black Hole-Hunting Space Telescope to Begin Science Mission

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NASA / NASA JPL:
NuSTAR Celebrates First 100 Days

September 20, 2012

Tomorrow, Sept. 21, 2012, will mark 100 days since NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, launched into space from the L-1011 "Stargazer" aircraft. Since completing its 30-day checkout, the telescope has been busy making its first observations of black holes, super-dense dead stars and the glowing remains of exploded stars.

Click on image for details
NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, celebrates 100 days in orbit on Sept. 21, 2012. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

In this early mission phase, the NuSTAR team has been getting to know their telescope better and learning how to point it precisely at targets of interest. NuSTAR has the longest mast of any astronomical telescope ever launched. The 33-foot (10-meter) flexible structure is part of the mission's innovative design, allowing NuSTAR to focus high-energy X-rays into sharp images for the first time. The team has been spending time understanding the mast's mechanics and how they affect the telescope's pointing.

In addition, NuSTAR has continued to team up with other observatories, including NASA's Chandra and Swift telescopes, to make coordinated observations. These joint observations allow astronomers to interpret data from their telescopes more precisely, and to gain a better overall understanding of some of the most extreme events in the cosmos.

As its journey continues, NuSTAR will explore many more targets in our galaxy and beyond.

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NASA / NASA JPL:
NASA's NuSTAR Spots Flare From Milky Way's Black Hole

October 23, 2012

PASADENA, Calif. - NASA's newest set of X-ray eyes in the sky, the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), has caught its first look at the giant black hole parked at the center of our galaxy. The observations show the typically mild-mannered black hole during the middle of a flare-up.

"We got lucky to have captured an outburst from the black hole during our observing campaign," said Fiona Harrison, the mission's principal investigator at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena. "These data will help us better understand the gentle giant at the heart of our galaxy and why it sometimes flares up for a few hours and then returns to slumber."

Click on images for details
NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has captured these first, focused views of the supermassive black hole at the heart of our galaxy in high-energy X-ray light. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech	These are the first, focused high-energy X-ray views of the area surrounding the supermassive black hole, called Sagittarius A*, at the center of our galaxy. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The new images can be seen by visiting: http://www.nasa.gov/nustar.

NuSTAR, launched June 13, is the only telescope capable of producing focused images of the highest-energy X-rays. For two days in July, the telescope teamed up with other observatories to observe Sagittarius A* (pronounced Sagittarius A-star and abbreviated Sgr A*), the name astronomers give to a compact radio source at the center of the Milky Way. Observations show a massive black hole lies at this location. Participating telescopes included NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which sees lower-energy X-ray light; and the W.M. Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii, which took infrared images.

Compared to giant black holes at the centers of other galaxies, Sgr A* is relatively quiet. Active black holes tend to gobble up stars and other fuel around them. Sgr A* is thought only to nibble or not eat at all, a process that is not fully understood. When black holes consume fuel -- whether a star, a gas cloud or, as recent Chandra observations have suggested, even an asteroid -- they erupt with extra energy.

In the case of NuSTAR, its state-of-the-art telescope is picking up X-rays emitted by consumed matter being heated up to about 180 million degrees Fahrenheit (100 million degrees Celsius) and originating from regions where particles are boosted very close to the speed of light. Astronomers say these NuSTAR data, when combined with the simultaneous observations taken at other wavelengths, will help them better understand the physics of how black holes snack and grow in size.

"Astronomers have long speculated that the black hole's snacking should produce copious hard X-rays, but NuSTAR is the first telescope with sufficient sensitivity to actually detect them," said NuSTAR team member Chuck Hailey of Columbia University in New York City.

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Science Daily: NASA's NuSTAR Spots Flare from Milky Way's Black Hole

Discover Magazine - Bad Astronomy: NuSTAR catches a black hole’s hot belch

Discovery News: Surprise! NuSTAR Spots Galaxy's Black Hole Flash

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ScienceCasts: The Diner at the Center of the Galaxy - YouTube

ScienceCasts: The Diner at the Center of the Galaxy - YouTube