ATHENA
Advanced Telescope for High ENergy Astrophysics
SHORT DESCRIPTION
Athena is an X-ray astronomy mission selected by ESA (European Space Agency) as part of its Cosmic Vision programme, to address the scientific theme of the Hot and Energetic Universe. It is the second mission selected by ESA within its “Large mission” programme and is expected to be launched in the early 2030s.
RUOLO DELL’OSSERVATORIO
The National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) has a very important role in the development of the Athena mission, giving a significant contribution both to the development and study of the scientific case and to its instrumentation. INAF-Brera Astronomical Observatory (OABrera) is actively involved in the development of ATHENA optics, with a very important role in the development of new laboratories and facilities needed for their characterization and calibration.
ATHENA’s optics will have a diameter of 2.5 meters and will be composed of 600 individual modules assembled together.
At the Merate branch of OABrera, the BEaTriX facility was built (see BEaTriX project), which is essential for the characterization and calibration of each individual module of these optics.
Meanwhile, in collaboration with some Italian companies expert in the development of complex opto-mechanical systems, the VERT-X facility is being developed, which will be used for the full characterization of the entire integrated mirror of Athena.
VERT-X will be the only facility in the world capable of calibrating the ATHENA optics in “full illumination mode”, that is, illuminating the entire ATHENA optics with X-rays.
The construction of VERT-X is underway at the Media Lario company and is funded by ESA.
These two facilities, BEaTriX and VERT-X, are fundamental for the development and realization of the Athena optics.
OABrera researchers are involved in various Athena Working Groups and in particular they are co-chairs of the Athena Telescope Working Group (TWG) and of the Science Working Group SWG2.3 (Feedback in local AGN and star forming galaxies).
TIMELINE
2014 – 2030
WEBSITE
CONTACT
gianpiero.tagliaferri AT inaf.it
CREDITI
Web page content: G. Tagliaferri.
DESCRIZIONE LUNGA
Athena consists of a single, large-aperture, grazing incidence X-ray telescope using a new technology developed in Europe to produce high-performance silicon pore optics. An optic with a focal length of 12 m and an angular resolution of ∼5 arc seconds (HEW: 50% confinement diameter of the photons of a point X-ray source).
In the focal plane there are two instruments, one is the Wide Field Imager (WFI) which provides very sensitive images over a large field of view with also medium-low resolution spectroscopic capabilities. The other instrument is the X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) which provides high-resolution, spatially resolved X-ray spectroscopy but over a limited field of view.
Athena will study how hot baryons assemble into galaxy groups and clusters, determine the chemical enrichment of these structures over cosmic time, measure their mechanical energy, and search for and characterize missing baryons that should reside in intergalactic filamentary structures.
At the same time, it will study the physics of accretion into compact objects, find the first accreting supermassive black holes, track their growth even in very dark environments and show how they influence the evolution of galaxies and galaxy clusters.
Athena will provide vital information on the high-energy emission of all classes of astrophysical objects, from solar system bodies to the most distant known objects. With its capabilities, Athena will be a truly unique observatory, operating alongside other large observatories available in the early 2030s and sensitive across the entire electromagnetic spectrum (such as ALMA, ELT, JWST, SKA, CTA, etc.).
