December 11, 2012: This intriguing image does not depict a deep-space scenario, nor a microscopic terrestrial subject.
Credit: Patrick Dumas/Look at Sciences
Rather the shimmering light whorls are reflection patterns of a gold-plated spare mirror of ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray space telescope. XMM-Newton space telescope, launched in 1999, carries 3 X-ray telescopes and an optical monitor, the first flown on a X-ray observatory.
126
