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Einstein Probe detects an X-ray flare from nearby star (phys.org)
49 points by wglb 62 days ago | hide | past | favorite | 9 comments


This threw me at first. There was an NASA X-ray imaging telescope in the late 70s/early 80s called Einstein:

https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/einstein/heao2.html

But this is a new Chinese instrument, also an X-ray telescope, also called Einstein:

https://ep.bao.ac.cn/ep/


Pedantically, it's Einstein Probe (EP), not Einstein. Confusingly, in Chinese it has another name, Tianguan, commemorating the observation of the supernova which created the Crab Nebula.


Chinese + ESA contributions


China + ESA + Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) + Centro Nacional de Estudios Espaciales (CNES) contributions


This is not very newsworthy, stellar flares are common and known to emit X-rays.


If measured the way we measure solar flares (M1, X1 etc) what would this one be rated as?



For a second I was really confused about what Epstein had to do with x-rays


SAME, I thought there was a bit flip in the files or something.




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