Einstein Observatory

NASA’s 1978–1981 X-ray observatory, the first fully imaging X-ray telescope in space. Its grazing-incidence mirrors produced detailed images of celestial X-ray sources.

Wolter telescope: A grazing-incidence telescope design that uses nested mirror reflections to focus X-rays. Einstein’s mirror assembly used this design to focus incoming X-rays.
Uhuru: NASA’s 1970 X-ray astronomy satellite, the first mission dedicated to surveying the X-ray sky. Uhuru established the source population that Einstein later imaged in detail.
Supernova remnant: The expanding debris and shocked material left by a supernova explosion. Einstein resolved X-ray emission from remnants, revealing hot structures within the debris.
Einstein Observatory Medium Sensitivity Survey: A catalog of serendipitous X-ray sources found in pointed Einstein Observatory observations. The survey used otherwise incidental detections to expand the known source population.
Grazing incidence: Reflection at shallow angles, used to redirect X-rays that would pass through or be absorbed at normal incidence. The telescope could focus X-rays only by reflecting them at shallow angles.
Small Astronomy Satellite 3: NASA’s 1975–1979 satellite mission that conducted an all-sky survey in X-rays and gamma rays. Its X-ray survey preceded Einstein’s higher-resolution imaging observations.
X-ray binary: A binary star system in which matter accreting onto a compact object emits X-rays. The observatory mapped stellar X-ray binaries across the Galaxy.
X-ray astronomy: The study of astronomical objects and processes through their emitted or absorbed X-rays. Einstein helped shift the field from source detection toward spatially resolved astrophysics.
High-resolution imager: An Einstein Observatory detector that formed detailed X-ray images using a microchannel plate. This instrument supplied the observatory’s sharpest X-ray images.
HEAO-2: The NASA High Energy Astrophysical Observatory mission launched in 1978 and renamed the Einstein Observatory. HEAO-2 was the spacecraft’s original mission designation.

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