NuSTAR Science
Deep in the heart of our Galaxy lurks a black hole four million times as massive as our Sun. We now believe that many or most galaxies contain similar supermassive black holes, hidden in most cases by clouds of dust. How do these black holes form? Are they remnants of massive collisions between galaxies? Are there connections between the core black hole and the properties of the surrounding galaxy?
To study supermassive black holes, we have to see through the vast clouds of obscuring dust that surrounds them, blocking all visible light. But just as X-rays can penetrate the skin to view the bones beneath, energetic
X-ray photons can penetrate through dust to reveal galaxy cores. X-ray telescopes like Chandra and XMM-Newton have used relatively low energy X-rays to explore the sky. Now, using advanced mirrors that can focus much more energetic X-rays comparable to those used for medical studies, the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, will extend these investigations by imaging the densest, hottest, and most energetic regions in the Universe.
NuSTAR will make the first census of supermassive black holes throughout cosmic space and time, answering questions about how galaxies form, and will answer other exciting questions as well: How were the elements that compose our bodies and the Earth forged in the explosions of massive stars? What powers the most extreme active galaxies? Perhaps most exciting is the opportunity to fill a blank map with wonders we have not yet dreamed of: NuSTAR offers the opportunity to explore our Universe in an entirely new way.
