On February 14, NASA released the first image taken by the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) X-ray telescope. The first target of IXPE was Cassiopeia A, a supernova remnant in the constellation Cassiopeia, evidence of an explosion that reached Earth around the 17th century. According to NASA, the same object in 1999 became the first target of the Chandra X-ray telescope.

Below is an image generated from Chandra and IXPE. The magenta color corresponds to the X-ray intensity recorded by IXPE. The blue, in turn, reflects the high-energy X-rays picked up by the Chandra.

The IXPE observations were carried out from 11 to 18 January 2022. On the right are data obtained from IXPE only. Colors range from cool purples and blues to reds and whites. Colder shades correspond to low X-ray brightness, warmer, respectively, to higher brightness. The brightest areas are marked in white.

As NASA points out, the blast wave swept the gas clouds surrounding the star, heating them to high temperatures and accelerating the movement of cosmic ray particles. As a result, a cloud was formed, which is the brightest radio source in the sky at frequencies above 1 GHz. It is located at a distance of about 11 thousand light years from Earth. The size of the resulting cloud is estimated at about 10 light years.

This is the first data received by IXPE since the launch of the mission on December 9, 2021. It is also the first NASA mission to measure the polarization of X-rays from supernova remnants, supermassive black holes, and dozens of other high-energy objects. The observations of Cassiopeia A included the collection of polarimetric data that NASA has not yet fully analyzed. Upon completion of the analysis, the agency plans to map the polarization of Cassiopeia A's x-ray emission to understand the principles of the radiation production process.

The beginning of 2022 turned out to be rich in space “pictures”. At the end of January, the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) released a series of radio images of the center of the Milky Way with a detailed analysis of the data obtained. Some of them even show radio emission from the Sagittarius A* region, a supposedly supermassive black hole surrounded by a hot, dense, radio-emitting gas cloud. To date, these are the most detailed radio images of the center of our galaxy.

On February 11, during a press conference, NASA presented the first images taken by the James Webb Telescope during the optics adjustment process, including a “selfie” of the main mirror. These are technical shots solely for calibrating mirrors and adjusting instruments. The first "beautiful" images will appear in the summer of 2022. However, the resulting images indicate that the telescope's systems are working, and that the instrument setup is proceeding according to plan.

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