Portal:Radiation astronomy/Pictures/30

The X-ray emitter Cygnus X-1, in the constellation of Cygnus, is imaged by a balloon born telescope. A balloon was launched for the High Energy Replicated Optics project on May 23, 2001, from Fort Sumner, New Mexico, USA, reaching an altitude of 39 km. Using a telescope containing unique X-ray mirrors, a team from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., has obtained the world's first focused high-energy X-ray images of any astronomical object, e.g., Cygnus X-1.