At 15:03 on January 9, 2024, Beijing time, China successfully launched the Einstein probe satellite using the Long March-2C carrier rocket at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, and the satellite successfully entered the predetermined orbit, and the launch mission was a complete success. Although netizens have long been accustomed to the rocket launch, the news quickly appeared on the hot search of the whole network.
Some netizens are curious, "Why do the satellites launched in China be named after Einstein?" ”
Some netizens were surprised, "Why is it so hot, is there a big guy telling me which of our technological advances this represents?" ”
Some netizens wondered, "Why is this satellite called 'Lobster Eye' by many **)?" ”
The answers to these questions begin with what the "Einstein probe" is.
The Einstein probe is actually a wide-field X-ray telescope, mainly by using X-ray band detection to conduct survey observations, targeting time-domain astronomy and high-energy astrophysical phenomena. It also has a special nickname, the "Lobster-Eye Telescope".
For those who love food, lobster eye may not be a delicacy, but there is an unexpected "mystery" inside. Scientific studies have shown that lobsters' eyes are made up of tiny, parallel square holes distributed over spherical structures that reflect light to the center of the eyeball. In other words, unlike the human eye, which relies on the lens to refract focus, the lobster eye uses reflection to achieve the convergence of light.
The square lattice on the surface of the lobster's eyeball, arranged like a waffle, is actually a series of small square tubes. These vertical side walls act like mirrors, allowing the lobster to concentrate the faint light in one place, thus capturing the changes between light and dark in the dark. Although this type of reflection does not allow the lobster eye to form a clear image and cannot judge the beauty of the object, especially in bright environments, the lobster eye may even be blind. However, this structure ensures the lobster's keen perception of moving objects in dim environments.
Inspired by the structure of the lobster's eye, scientists have developed a new survey telescope that reflects light onto the detection sensor through a very similar tiny square tube, allowing the telescope to have higher sensitivity and a wider field of view when observing the dark universe.
The wide-area X-ray telescope developed by China has applied the "lobster eye" microaperture array focused imaging technology for the first time, which can achieve a tenfold increase in sensitivity and spatial resolution, and accurately capture the more distant, faint and faint high-energy temporary sources and transient and unknown phenomena in the universe while carrying out wide-area monitoring, and issue early warnings to guide other astronomical equipment on the ground and satellite bases to make follow-up observations.
When the observation is officially launched, the wide-area X-ray telescope can automatically adjust the attitude, quickly point to and lock on to the target, and quickly transmit the information of the new transient or explosive celestial objects that have a chance to be detected to the science and technology center through the Beidou network, and then guide the global astronomical telescopes to carry out multi-band follow-up observations to obtain richer observation data. In the process of exploring this series of data, the silent black hole was included in the research scope for the first time, aiming to detect the gravitational waves predicted by the famous physicist Albert Einstein and its related celestial objects. Hence the name "Einstein probe".
The name "Einstein Probe" is not only expected to capture astronomical phenomena such as black holes, explosions, gravitational wave sources, electromagnetic counterparts, and supernovae, and help scientists solve major scientific problems, but also to pay tribute to the important prediction of Einstein's general theory of relativity.
It is worth mentioning that satellites are led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, but ESA, the Max Planck Institute of Extraterrestrial Research in Germany, and the French Space Agency are all involved in this cooperation.
Text: Entrepreneurship in the world - Da Yue