HEAPOW: Stargazer and NuSTAR (2012 Jun 18)
NASA's latest high energy observatory, the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope ARray, or NuSTAR, launched on June 13, 2012. NuSTAR will perform the first high spatial resolution survey of the Universe in the hard X-ray energy band using unique X-ray mirrors along with sophisticated X-ray detectors. NuSTAR's energy range is important because it helps reveal the hidden Universe, especially black holes that may be surrounded by thick disks of accreting material. NuSTAR will also map the chemicals cooked up in supernova explosions, and better define high energy phenomena such as powerful particle jets produced by the nuclei of active galaxies. NuSTAR was launched on a airborne Pegasus launch vehicle carried aboard a special L1011 aircraft called Stargazer. The image above is a sequence showing the release of the Pegasus rocket from the belly of Stargazer.
NASA: Pegasus Successfully Launches NuSTAR
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=26863#p177632
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=28916
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