NIXT: Difference between revisions

{{unreferencedMore citations needed|date=February 2016}}

The '''NIXT''', or '''Normal Incidence X-ray Telescope''', was a [[sounding rocket]] payload flown in the 1990s by Professor [[Leon Golub (astrophysicist)|Leon Golub]] of the [[Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory]], to prototype normal-incidence (conventional) optical designs in [[extreme ultraviolet]] (EUV) solar imaging. In the EUV, the surface of the [[Sun]] appears dark, and hot structures in the solar [[solar corona]] appear bright; this allows study of the structure and dynamics of the solar corona near the surface of the Sun, which is not possible using [[visible light]].

In 1989, a NIXT sounding rocket launch detected soft X-Rays coming from a [[Solar flare]].<ref name=mh>{{Cite webjournal|urltitle=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1991ApJ...376..797H Page 797|titlejournal=The Astrophysical Journal|bibcode=1991ApJ...376..797H|last1=Herant Page|first1=M. 797|websitelast2=adsabsPardo |first2=F.harvard |last3=Spiller |first3=E.edu |last4=Golub |first4=L. |year=1991 |volume=376 |access-datepage=797 |doi=2018-07-10.1086/170328 |doi-access=free }}</ref> It was launched when the solar event was detected to allow high resolution imaging of the Sun's [[solar corona|corona]].<ref>{{Cite web|urlname=http:mh//adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1991ApJ...376..797H|title=1991ApJ...376..797H Page 797|website=adsabs.harvard.edu|access-date=2018-07-10}}</ref> Results from the observations were presented in 1990 in different papers.<ref>{{Cite web|urlname=http:mh//adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1991ApJ...376..797H|title=1991ApJ...376..797H Page 797|website=adsabs.harvard.edu|access-date=2018-07-10}}</ref> NIXT was launched throughout the early 1990s and a paper summarizing the results from these mission was published in 1996.<ref name=lg>[{{Cite web|url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19970008135.pdf]|title = A Normal Incidence X-ray Telescope (NIXT) Sounding Rocket Payload|date = September 1996|last1 = Golub|first1 = Leon}}</ref>

A successor program to NIXT, was the TXI (Tunable XUV Imager) sounding rocket program<ref <ReF>[https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19970008135.pdf]<name=lg/reF><ref>[{{Cite web|url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20040084234]|title=The Tunable XUV Imager (TXI) Sounding Rocket Payload|date=July 2004|last1=Brinton|first1=John|last2=Golub|first2=Leon}}</ref>