Published 20:39 IST, June 2nd 2019
Star Map: NASA shares mesmerizing 'mosaic of sweeping arcs' mapping the entire sky, claims galactic GPS as its future scope
A bird's eye view of the entire sky was what NASA aimed at presenting when it released a bewildering photo on Thursday showing a tangle of criss-cross bright yellow arcs crossing each other to create a massive web with numerous luminous points on the dark black canvas - the sky.
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A bird's eye view of entire sky was what NASA aimed at presenting when it released a bewildering photo on Thursday showing a tangle of criss-cross bright yellow arcs crossing each or to create a massive web with numerous lumius points on dark black canvas - sky.
Teasing what could be possible guesses to picture, NASA, on Thursday, shared mosaic of sweeping arcs explaining that it was a map of entire sky in X-Rays.
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Explaining im captured by NASA’s Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), a paylo on International Station, NASA has explained what each arc and each bright spot represented.
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" map includes data from first 22 months of NICER’s science operations. Each arc traces X-rays, as well as occasional strikes from energetic particles, captured during NICER’s night moves. brightness of each point in im is a result of se contributions as well as time NICER has spent looking in that direction. A diffuse glow permeates X-ray sky even far from bright sources," states NASA.
Explaining why re were a very large number of criss-cross arcs at some places, NASA states:
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" prominent arcs form because NICER often follows same paths between targets. arcs converge on bright spots representing NICER’s most popular destinations — locations of important X-ray sources mission regularly monitors."
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Speaking about scope of project NICER was undertaking named Station Explorer for X-ray Timing and Navigation Techlogy (SEXTANT),NASA claims that by observing se X-ray pulses to determine NICER's position and peed in , techlogy when mature, will act as a galactic GPS enabling craft to navigate mselves throughout solar system — and beyond.
Unfortunately, this is currently only seen in sci-fi movies like Star Wars, Guardians of Galaxy to name a few.
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20:28 IST, June 2nd 2019