December 22, 2021
The universe has spent billions of years making things that shine. On your birthday, we celebrate one of its quieter masterpieces.
Launch of the IXPE Observatory
Birthday · December 22, 2021
A little universe, just for you
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APOD published December 22, 2021. Credit: Jordan Sirokie. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Birds don't fly this high. Airplanes don't go this fast. The Statue of Liberty weighs less. No species other than human can even comprehend what is going on, nor could any human just a millennium ago. The launch of a rocket bound for space is an event that inspires awe and challenges description. Pictured here, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center, Florida earlier this month carrying the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). IXPE is scheduled to observe high-energy objects such as neutron stars, black holes, and the centers of distant galaxies to better determine the physics and geometries that create and control them. From a standing start, the 300,000+ kilogram rocket ship lifted IXPE up to circle the Earth, where the outside air is too thin to breathe. Rockets bound for space are now launched from somewhere on Earth every few days. Launch Update: James Webb Space Telescope
Image credit: Jordan Sirokie