Top

NASA's CHESS rocket to study interstellar clouds to launch tomorrow

The CHESS will measure light filtering through the interstellar medium.

NASA is launching a new Colorado High-resolution Echelle Stellar Spectrograph (CHESS) rocket on June 27 to study vast interstellar clouds and know about the earliest stages of star formation. The CHESS will measure light filtering through the interstellar medium which provides crucial information for understanding the lifecycle of stars.

In the space between distant stars there drift vast clouds of neutral atoms and molecules, as well as charged plasma particles that may, over millions of years, evolve into new stars and even planets.

CHESS will train its eye at Beta Scorpii — a hot, brightly shining star in the Scorpius constellation well-positioned for the instrument to probe the material between the star and our own solar system.

This is the third flight for the CHESS payload in the past three years, and the most detailed survey yet.

( Source : PTI )
Next Story