Spectr-RG: four years of successful work

Four years ago, on July 13, 2019, a unique astrophysical observatory of the Spektr series – Spektr-RG, developed at Lavochkin Association (part of Roscosmos State Corporation), was launched to Space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

“Spektr-RG” is the first domestic observatory operating in the neighborhood of the Lagrange point L2, at a distance of about one and a half million kilometers from the Earth. In this vicinity, the spacecraft remains stationary relative to the Earth and the Sun, which allows it to conduct observations around the clock. The observatory is equipped with two X-ray mirror telescopes: ART-XC named after M.N. Pavlinsky ( Institute of Cosmic Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia) and eROSITA (MPE, Germany), operating on the principle of oblique incidence X-ray optics. The telescopes are installed on the “Navigator” space platform developed at the Lavochkin Association and adapted to the project’s objectives.

Since December 19, 2021, the Russian X-ray observatory “Spektr-RG” has conducted the fifth of eight planned reviews of the entire sky, which were to be completed in early summer 2022. However, on February 26, 2022, one of the two telescopes on board the observatory – the German eROSITA was switched to “sleep” mode and the review was suspended. The Russian ART-XC telescope named after M.N. Pavlinsky continued its work, but in the framework of a new program of scientific observations, taking into account the results already obtained. Today, it is the only fully operational instrument on the Russian orbiting observatory “Spektr-RG”.

In 2021, the “Spektr-RG” observatory was honored with the most prestigious award in astrophysics, the Marcel Grossman Prize. The prize was awarded “for the creation of the world’s best map of the entire sky in X-rays, for the discovery of millions of previously unknown supermassive black holes at cosmological distances, for the registration of X-ray radiation from tens of thousands of galaxy clusters filled mainly with “dark matter”, and for the possibility of a detailed research the growth of the large-scale structure of the Universe in the era of the dominance of “dark energy”.”

During its lifetime, the “Spectr-RG” spacecraft has provided many informative X-ray images of celestial objects obtained during the scan. These include the remains of supernovae starbursts, a cluster of young stars in our Galaxy, as well as supermassive black holes, galaxies and galaxy clusters outside the Milky Way. During the first four all-sky surveys, a map of the entire sky in X-rays was constructed, which has become the most detailed in the world. The total number of sources on it is more than 2 million. Over the past year of operation, the Russian Pavlinsky ART-XC telescope on the “Spektr-RG” space observatory has helped create a catalog of galactic X-ray sources, investigated the brightest gamma-ray burst ever recorded, and conducted a number of other studies. In addition to important astrophysical results obtained about deep Space objects, the telescope also monitored the radiation environment near its trajectory.

Today, “Spektr-RG” continues to make new discoveries while exploring the Universe and providing scientists with unique data.