The ASTRO-H (Hitomi) x-ray astronomy satellite

Thumbnail Image

Files

99050U.pdf (1.68 MB)

Links to Files

https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/conference-proceedings-of-spie/9905/1/The-ASTRO-H-Hitomi-x-ray-astronomy-satellite/10.1117/12.2232379.short?SSO=1

Permanent Link

https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2232379
 http://hdl.handle.net/11603/29510

Collections

UMBC Center for Space Sciences and Technology (CSST) / Center for Research and Exploration in Space Sciences & Technology II (CRSST II)
UMBC Faculty Collection
UMBC Physics Department

Author/Creator

Author/Creator ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4656-6881

Date

2016-07-20

Type of Work

conference papers and proceedings
Text

Department

Program

Citation of Original Publication

"Tadayuki Takahashi, Motohide Kokubun, Kazuhisa Mitsuda, Richard Kelley, Takaya Ohashi, et al. ""The ASTRO-H (Hitomi) x-ray astronomy satellite,"" Proc. SPIE 9905, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2016: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 99050U (20 July 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2232379"

Rights

This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.
Public Domain Mark 1.0

Subjects

Abstract

The Hitomi (ASTRO-H) mission is the sixth Japanese X-ray astronomy satellite developed by a large international collaboration, including Japan, USA, Canada, and Europe. The mission aimed to provide the highest energy resolution ever achieved at E > 2 keV, using a microcalorimeter instrument, and to cover a wide energy range spanning four decades in energy from soft X-rays to gamma-rays. After a successful launch on 2016 February 17, the spacecraft lost its function on 2016 March 26, but the commissioning phase for about a month provided valuable information on the on-board instruments and the spacecraft system, including astrophysical results obtained from first light observations. The paper describes the Hitomi (ASTRO-H) mission, its capabilities, the initial operation, and the instruments/spacecraft performances confirmed during the commissioning operations for about a month.