The Xuntian Space Telescope
a day ago
- #astronomy
- #dark-matter
- #space-telescope
- Xuntian, or the Chinese Space Station Telescope (CSST), is a flagship project for China’s space program, designed to conduct a sweeping survey of the cosmos.
- The telescope features a 2-meter primary mirror and an advanced Cook-type, three-mirror anastigmat system, providing exceptional image quality across a large field of view.
- Xuntian’s wide field of view is over 300 times larger than Hubble’s, enabled by a 2.5-gigapixel detector array, making it ideal for rapid sky surveys.
- The telescope will operate in a unique co-orbital arrangement with China’s Tiangong space station, allowing for periodic servicing, repairs, and upgrades by astronauts.
- Xuntian’s primary mission is a 10-year survey covering 40% of the sky, aiming to study dark matter and dark energy using weak gravitational lensing and baryon acoustic oscillations.
- Additional scientific goals include mapping the Milky Way’s dust, studying supermassive black holes, and discovering exoplanets and peculiar celestial objects.
- The telescope is equipped with a suite of instruments, including a survey camera, terahertz receiver, multichannel imager, integral field spectrograph, and a coronagraph for exoplanet studies.
- Xuntian will complement other next-gen telescopes like JWST, Euclid, and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, each focusing on different wavelengths and scientific objectives.
- China plans to make Xuntian’s data available globally, fostering international collaboration despite geopolitical restrictions like the U.S. Wolf Amendment.