Related papers: AXAF in Context: A Revolution
Much of the progress in Astronomy has been driven by instrumental developments, from the first telescopes to fiber fed spectrographs. In this review we describe the field of astrophotonics, a combination of photonics and astronomical…
Planetary plasma and magnetic field environments can be studied by in situ measurements or by remote sensing. While the former provide precise information about plasma behaviour, instabilities and dynamics on local scales, the latter offers…
This is the written version of an invited review talk for the 13 Feb 2004 AAAS Meeting in Seattle. The talk's goal is to present a philosophical view of extragalactic astronomy as it applies to the sub-field of galaxy evolution. The talk is…
Gamma-ray studies are an essential tool in our search for the origin of cosmic rays. Instruments like the Fermi-LAT, H.E.S.S., MAGIC and VERITAS have revolutionized our understanding of the high energy Universe. This paper describes the…
Observational programmes currently underway with both Chandra and XMM-Newton are set to revolutionize our view of our own Galaxy. This is fortunate since the X-ray band can provide crucial diagnostics in the quest to understand the…
AXIS is a probe-class concept under study for submission to the 2020 Decadal Survey. AXIS will extend and enhance the science of high angular resolution X-ray imaging and spectroscopy in the next decade with $\sim 0.4''$ resolution over a…
This white paper was prepared by members of the XRISM Science Team for the benefit of the general astronomical community. This paper describes the capabilities of XRISM, offers a sampling of the many science topics that the mission will…
X-ray diffraction gratings play an essential role in high-resolution spectroscopy of astrophysical phenomena. We present some scientific highlights from the X-ray grating spectrometers (XGS) on board of the Chandra and XMM/Newton missions,…
AGILE (Astrorivelatore Gamma ad Immagini LEggero) has been a unique and hugely successful mission of Italian Space Agency (ASI), built and operated with the programmatic and technical support of the National Institute for Astrophysics…
We review recent examples where the synergy between radio and X-ray observations has led to substantial progress in understanding astronomical systems. The sub-arcsecond imaging capabilities of the Chandra X-ray observatory provides a…
In the recent years, the discovery of a new class of Galactic transients with fast and bright flaring X-ray activity, the Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients, has completely changed our view and comprehension of massive X-ray binaries. These…
X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) and x-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) are advanced x-ray spectroscopies that impact a wide range of disciplines. However, unlike the majority of other spectroscopic methods, XAFS and XES are…
The High Energy X-ray Timing Experiment (HEXTE) is one of three scientific instruments aboard the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), which was launched on December 30, 1995. RXTE performs timing and spectral studies of bright x-ray sources…
X-ray emission has played a major role in the recent identification of several groups of young, nearby stars. The ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS) is due to its spatial completeness an important tool for discovering stellar associations and…
We bring you, as usual, the Sun and Moon and stars, plus some galaxies and a new section on astrobiology. Some highlights are short (the newly identified class of gamma-ray bursts, and the Deep Impact on Comet 9P/ Tempel 1), some long (the…
Recent X-ray observations have had a major impact on topics ranging from protostars to cosmology. They have also drawn attention to important and general physical processes that currently limit our understanding of thermal and nonthermal…
The X-ray observatories XMM-Newton and Chandra provided a wealth of exciting new results. Chandra delivered X-ray images of outstanding detail, reaching subarcsecond spatial resolution for the first time in X-ray astronomy. XMM-Newton…
Hard X-/soft gamma-ray astronomy is a crucial field for transient, nuclear and multimessenger astrophysics. However, the spatial localization, imaging capabilities and sensitivity of the measurements are strongly limited for the energy…
Modern soft X-ray observatories can yield unique insights into time domain astrophysics, and a huge amount of information is stored - and largely unexploited - in data archives. Like a treasure-hunt, the EXTraS project harvested the…
Since the '80s the \textit{Einstein} observatory has shown the Young Stellar Objects (YSOs), emit X-rays with luminosities, in the 0.3--8 keV bandpass, up to $\rm 10^3$--$\rm 10^4$ times than the Sun and that the X-ray emission is highly…