BeppoSAX

BeppoSAX was an Italian / Dutch research satellite for astronomical observations with X-rays.

History

BeppoSAX was named after the Italian astronomer Giuseppe ' Beppo ' Occhialini and the Italian abbreviation for ' satellite for X-ray astronomy '. BeppoSAX was developed by the Italian Space Agency ASI and the Dutch Air and Space Agency NIVR and brought on 30 April 1996 with an Atlas I rocket into low Earth orbit with 3.9 ° orbital inclination. The scientific mission ended with the shutdown on April 30, 2002. The 1.4 -tonne satellite he fell on 29 April 2003 over the Pacific Ocean to the earth again.

BeppoSAX had five scientific instruments for X-rays in the energy range 0.1- 300keV.

BeppoSAX won X-ray spectra of many objects such as active galaxies and X-ray binaries. Of great importance were the first obtained with BeppoSAX quick and accurate positions of gamma-ray bursts. Therefore the possible targeted follow-up observations showed the high redshift of these extremely energetic events.

With the BeppoSax 1997, the observation of an afterglow in X-rays in a gamma-ray burst ( Enrico Costa, Filippo Frontera), followed shortly by other local observations in the optical range (Jan van Paradijs ) succeeded.

Pictures of BeppoSAX

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