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[Music throughout]

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XRISM is

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our newest X-ray telescope in space.

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It's a JAXA/NASA collaborative
mission with ESA participation

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and will revolutionize X-ray observations
of the universe.

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It does this with a one-of-a-kind sensor

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that captures data with 36 supercooled pixels.

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Yes, you heard that right,

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this groundbreaking detector isn't measured
in megapixels.

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It's a six-by-six grid of 36 pixels,

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but they're unlike any others.

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Although this detector, called Resolve,

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can create low-resolution X-ray images,

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that is not what makes it unique.

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Each pixel in Resolve is a microcalorimeter

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so it can measure tiny amounts of heat.

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A six-stage system

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cools it to 50 millikelvins,

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or a fraction of a degree above absolute zero.

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This extreme low temperature

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allows Resolve to measure how much a pixel warms

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when it absorbs a single X-ray,

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and therefore measure the energy

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of that one particle of light.

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It’s basically

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a precise way of measuring

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the X-ray’s color.

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As a result,

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XRISM can create the most detailed X-ray
spectrum ever

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for distant objects.

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This spectrum can give a great deal of useful
information,

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like temperature,

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what elements are present and in what quantities,

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and how fast an object is moving

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toward or away from us,

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even if we can only see it as a dot in the sky,

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too distant to resolve details.

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This would be a revolutionary achievement

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for a detector with a single pixel.

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But Resolve has 36.

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This allows XRISM to observe

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“extended objects”

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that aren’t point-source dots

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and create spectrum maps of their different regions.

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That can reveal speed

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and temperature differences

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in extremely hot gases.

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Using that information,

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scientists can determine

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how nebulae and galaxy clusters have evolved

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and interacted over time.

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The Resolve detector was invented

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and built at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

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The detector’s success in XRISM

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will enable Goddard to further the design

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an follow up with X-ray microcalorimeters

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with hundreds or even thousands of pixels.

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So, while it may not sound as impressive as 4k

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or 50 megapixels,

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the Resolve detector on XRISM

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will be revolutionizing our understanding

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of the large-scale

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high-energy universe.

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And that’s pretty amazing

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for a “mere” three-dozen pixels.

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[NASA]