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 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.
Teasing what could be the possible guesses to the picture, NASA, on Thursday, shared the mosaic of sweeping arcs explaining that it was a map of the entire sky in X-Rays.
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Explaining the image captured by NASA’s Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), a payload on the International Space Station, NASA has explained what each arc and each bright spot represented.
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"The map includes data from the 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. The brightness of each point in the image is a result of these contributions as well as the time NICER has spent looking in that direction. A diffuse glow permeates the X-ray sky even far from bright sources," states NASA.
Explaining why there were a very large number of criss-cross arcs at some places, NASA states:
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"The prominent arcs form because NICER often follows the same paths between targets. The arcs converge on bright spots representing NICER’s most popular destinations — the locations of important X-ray sources the mission regularly monitors."
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Speaking about the scope of the project NICER was undertaking named Station Explorer for X-ray Timing and Navigation Technology (SEXTANT),NASA claims that by observing these X-ray pulses to determine NICER's position and peed in space, the technology when mature, will act as a galactic GPS enabling spacecraft to navigate themselves throughout the solar system — and beyond.
Unfortunately, this is currently only seen in sci-fi movies like Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy to name a few.
20:28 IST, June 2nd 2019