Hitomi (ASTRO-H) X-ray Astronomy Satellite

Takahashi, Tadayuki; Kokubun, Motohide; Mitsuda, Kazuhisa; Kelley, Richard L.; Ohashi, Takaya; Aharonian, Felix; Akamatsu, Hiroki; Akimoto, Fumie; Allen, Steven W.; Anabuki, Naohisa; Angelini, Lorella; Arnaud, Keith A.; Asai, Makoto; Audard, Marc; Awaki, Hisamitsu; Axelsson, Magnus; Azzarello, Philipp; Baluta, Chris; Bamba, Aya; Bando, Nobutaka; Bautz, Marshall W.; Bialas, Thomas G.; Blandford, Roger D.; Boyce, Kevin R.; Brenneman, Laura W.; Brown, Gregory V.; Bulbul, Esra; Cackett, Edward M.; Canavan, Edgar R.; Chernyakova, Maria; Chiao, Meng P.; Coppi, Paolo S.; Costantini, Elisa; Dell, Stephen L.; DiPirro, Michael J.; Done, Chris; Dotani, Tadayasu; Doty, John P.; Ebisawa, Ken; Eckart, Megan E.E.; Enoto, Teruaki; Ezoe, Yuichiro; Fabian, Andrew C.; Ferrigno, Carlo; Foster, Adam R.; Fujimoto, Ryuichi; Fukazawa, Yasushi; Funk, Stefan; Furuzawa, Akihiro; Galeazzi, Massimiliano; Gallo, Luigi C.; Gandhi, Poshak; Gilmore, Kirk; Giustini, Margherita; Goldwurm, Andrea; Gu, Liyi; Guainazzi, Ma...

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 February 17, 2016, the spacecraft lost its function on March 26, 2016, but the commissioning phase for about a month provided valuable information on the onboard 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.

Citation

Takahashi, T., Kokubun, M., Mitsuda, K., Kelley, R. L., Ohashi, T., Aharonian, F., Akamatsu, H., Akimoto, F., Allen, S. W., Anabuki, N., Angelini, L., Arnaud, K. A., Asai, M., Audard, M., Awaki, H., Axelsson, M., Azzarello, P., Baluta, C., Bamba, A., Bando, N., …Zoghbi, A. (2018). Hitomi (ASTRO-H) X-ray Astronomy Satellite. Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems, 4(02), Article 021402. https://doi.org/10.1117/1.jatis.4.2.021402

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 5, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Mar 13, 2018
• Publication Date: Mar 13, 2018
• Deposit Date: Aug 2, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 2, 2018
• Journal: Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems
• Electronic ISSN: 2329-4221
• Publisher: Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 4
• Issue: 02
• Article Number: 021402
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1117/1.jatis.4.2.021402
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1318615