X-Ray Telescope

An X-ray telescope (XRT) is a telescope that is designed to observe remote objects in the X-ray spectrum.

Designs

X-ray telescopes can use a variety of different designs to image X-rays. The most common methods used in X-ray telescopes are grazing incidence mirrors and coded apertures. The limitations of X-ray optics result in much narrower fields of view than visible or UV telescopes.

Use in space combat

Operating fusion drives discharge plasma at a temperature of around a hundred million K. The initial cooling of this drive plume is by x-ray emission, and x-rays are also emitted from the fusing regions. A pulsed or continuous fusion drive produces terawatts of power, and an anti-matter drive can produce several orders of magnitude more, much of which ends up as x-rays, or extreme ultraviolet. As well as detecting the high-temperature drive plume, x-ray calorimetry can give information on the drive geometry and reaction conditions. Such data can help to identify the class of ship (or design of drive). The cylindrical mirrors used on x-ray telescopes are of much poorer quality than the mirrors used in near-optical telescopes, so the x-ray detectors are of only limited use for attaining firing solutions.