Muzahidur Rahman Fine

NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer mission, or IXPE, was safely launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to detect X-rays emitted by black holes and neutron stars. The spacecraft, which is a joint endeavor between NASA and the Italian Space Agency, has three telescopes that are not as large as NASA's Chandra X-ray observatory, but will be able to view polarization, which is an often neglected element of cosmic ray sources. IXPE will provide more about the specific nature of cosmic X-ray sources than the brightness and color spectrum alone can reveal. IXPE could help scientists better comprehend the remnants of exploded stars, such as black holes and neutron stars, their surroundings, and how they produce X-rays, by studying the polarization of cosmic X-rays. Sensitive polarization is one of the satellite's eyes on the universe.