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Athena X-ray observatory

Athena X-ray observatory

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Athena Community Office official account. Athena is a general-purpose open X-ray observatory mission. and how do black holes grow and shape the Universe?

The Advanced Telescope for High-energy Astrophysics (Athena) is being proposed to ESA as the L2 mission (for a launch in 2028) and is specifically designed to answer two of the most pressing questions for astrophysics in the forthcoming decade: How did ordinary matter assemble into the large scale structures we see today? For addressing these two issues, Athena+ will provide transformational capab

22/06/2026

10 Years of Supporting the NewAthena Community 🚀✨

Today marks a decade of the Athena Community Office (ACO). Since its creation, the ACO has worked to serve as a bridge between the mission and the global scientific community—helping to keep everyone informed, involved, and ready for the next generation of X‑ray astronomy.
Over the years, this has meant supporting the community through a range of ongoing activities. From regular science webinars and newsletters, to providing access to simulation tools, publications, and presentations, the goal has always been to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and resources. The ACO also contributes to organizing conferences and developing outreach materials—such as the Science and Tech Nuggets—to make complex topics more accessible.
At the same time, an important part of this work has been highlighting the people behind the science, through curated biographies of the researchers and technical teams contributing to the mission.
To mark this 10‑year milestone, we are also sharing an updated visual of the NewAthena telescope, reflecting its latest design. You can find the front and back designs in the Gallery section of our web portal.

15/06/2026

We are pleased to share a new selection of recent publications from the NewAthena community.
These works span a wide range of topics, from instruments development to studies of black hole winds and multi‑messenger signals from gravitational‑wave events.
Together, they highlight the scientific and technical efforts supporting the NewAthena mission.Discover more ⬇️

02/06/2026

Many voices. One universe. Exploring black holes together.

Over the past month, the Athena Community Office has run a special outreach campaign for , sharing short videos from members of the NewAthena community.
Across different languages and perspectives, contributors have explored black hole science—while also connecting it with culture through music. Each video featured a song recommendation inspired by black holes, all brought together in a shared Spotify playlist.
We would like to sincerely thank all members of the community who contributed their videos and helped make this initiative possible. Their voices highlight the diversity and richness of the people behind astrophysics.
Thank you as well to everyone who joined us throughout the campaign.
🎥 All videos are also available on our YouTube channel.
🎧 You can revisit the full playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2E5xz2ZUU6mnIgqMZuWBMh

29/05/2026

As part of the Athena Community Office outreach campaign for , we are sharing today the final video in this month‑long series, featuring members of the NewAthena community.

In this last contribution, Soon Wook Kim, speaking in Korean, explores one of the most spectacular phenomena associated with black holes: the powerful jets they can produce.
Throughout this campaign, we have highlighted black hole science through multiple languages and perspectives, connecting research, culture, and music.
Each video concludes with a song recommendation, all gathered in a shared Spotify playlist:

🎧 https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2E5xz2ZUU6mnIgqMZuWBMh

🙏 Thank you to everyone in the community who contributed their voice to this series and thank you for following along with us.

28/05/2026

As part of the Athena Community Office outreach campaign for , we continue our series of short videos featuring members of the NewAthena community, each sharing black hole science in their native language.

In this new contribution, Ileyk El Mellah (Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña), speaking in French, explores how time behaves around black holes—where it can flow in ways that challenge our everyday experience.

Each video in the series ends with a music recommendation inspired by black holes, collected in our shared Spotify playlist:

🎧 https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2E5xz2ZUU6mnIgqMZuWBMh

We’ll be sharing the final videos of the campaign very soon.

27/05/2026

As part of the Athena Community Office outreach campaign for , we continue our series of short videos featuring members of the NewAthena community, each sharing black hole science in their native language.

In today’s video, Sinancan Kara (Boğaziçi University ) offers a glimpse into some of the most energetic environments in the universe—where black holes reveal themselves not in isolation, but through the powerful activity surrounding them.

Each video ends with a music recommendation inspired by black holes, collected in our shared Spotify playlist:
🎧 https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2E5xz2ZUU6mnIgqMZuWBMh

More voices and perspectives coming very soon.

12/05/2026

As part of the Athena Community Office outreach campaign for , we continue sharing short videos from members of the NewAthena community, each recorded in their native language.

In today’s video, the voice is Spanish. Francisco Carrera (IFCA) reflects on a fundamental and often misunderstood idea in black hole physics: what we really mean by “nothing” inside a black hole.
Each contribution in this series ends with a music recommendation inspired by black holes, collected in a shared Spotify playlist:
🎧 https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2E5xz2ZUU6mnIgqMZuWBMh

More videos and perspectives will follow over the coming weeks.

08/05/2026

As part of its outreach activities for , the Athena Community Office continues a month‑long campaign celebrating science, language, and culture.

In this second short video, we hear a new voice from the NewAthena community—this time in Dutch. Nathalie Degenaar (University of Amsterdam / Universiteit van Amsterdam) explains black hole’s weights.

Each video in this series is recorded in the contributor’s native language and ends with a music recommendation inspired by black holes. All songs are collected in a dedicated Spotify playlist: 🎧 https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2E5xz2ZUU6mnIgqMZuWBMh

More videos, languages, and perspectives will be shared over the coming weeks.

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