A4 Refereed article in a conference publication
The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) at last!
Authors: Soffitta P., Baldini L., Baumgartner W., Bellazzini R., Bongiorno S.D., Bucciantini N., Costa E., Dovčiak M., Ehlert S., Kaaret P.E., Kolodziejczak J.J., Latronico L., Marin F., Marscher A.P., Marshall H.L., Matt G., Muleri F., O’Dell S.L., Poutanen J., Ramsey B., Romani R.W., Slane P., Tennant A.F., Turolla R., Weisskopf M.C., Agudo I., Antonelli L.A., Bachetti M., Bianchi S., Bonino R., Brez A., Capitanio F., Castellano S., Cavazzuti E., Chen C.T., Ciprini S., De Rosa A., Del Monte E., Di Gesu L., Di Lalla N., Di Marco A., Donnarumma I., Doroshenko V., Enoto T., Evangelista Y., Fabiani S., Ferrazzoli R., Garcia J.A., Gunji S., Hayashida K., Heyl J., Iwakiri W., Jorstad S.G., Karas V., Kislat F., Kitaguchi T., Krawczynski H., La Monaca F., Liodakis I., Maldera S., Manfreda A., Marinucci A., Massaro F., Mitsuishi I., Mizuno T., Negro M., Ng C.Y., Omodei N., Oppedisano C., Papitto A., Pavlov G.G., Peirson A.L., Perri M., Pesce-Rollins M., Petrucci P.O., Pilia M., Possenti A., Puccetti S., Rankin J., Ratheesh A., Roberts O.J., Sgrò C., Spandre G., Swartz D.A., Tamagawa T., Tavecchio F., Taverna R., Tawara Y., Thomas N.E., Tombesi F., Trois A., Tsygankov S.S., Vink J., Wu K., Xie F., Zane S.
Editors: Oswald H. Siegmund, Keri Hoadley
Conference name: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications
Publisher: SPIE
Publishing place: San Diego
Publication year: 2023
Journal: Proceedings of SPIE : the International Society for Optical Engineering
Book title : Proceedings of SPIE: UV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Space Instrumentation for Astronomy XXIII
Journal name in source: Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Series title: Proceedings of SPIE : the International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume: 12678
First page : 1267803
ISBN: 978-1-5106-6570-5
eISBN: 978-1-5106-6571-2
ISSN: 0277-786X
eISSN: 1996-756X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2677296
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2677296
IXPE, the first observatory dedicated to imaging x-ray polarimetry, was launched on Dec 9, 2021 and is operating successfully. A partnership between NASA and the Italian Space Agencey (ASI) IXPE features three x-ray telescopes each comprised of a mirror module assembly with a polarization sensitive detector at its focus. An extending boom was deployed on orbit to provide the necessary 4 m focal length. A three-axis-stabilized spacecraft provides power, attitude determination and control, and commanding. After one year of observation IXPE has measured statistically significant polarization from almost all the classes of celestial sources that emit X-rays. In the following we describe the IXPE mission, reporting on its performance after 1.5 year of operations. We show the main astrophysical results which are outstanding for a SMEX mission.
