The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
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Martin Elvis

Center for Astrophysics
Senior Astrophysicist
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Martin Elvis
melvis@cfa.harvard.edu

About

I am an astronomer at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory who has obsessed for years over how supermassive black holes come to be seen as quasars, sources so bright that we see them out to the greatest distances and earliest times in the universe. For my PhD I discovered that quasars emit X-rays. At SAO, using a fleet of space and ground based telescopes I mapped out the spectrum of quasars from X-rays to ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths, and suggested what their inner structures is. Concerned about the growing expense of space telescopes, I have turned to researching the astronomy needed to enable asteroid mining, hoping to cut those costs by putting capitalism to work in space. I have since published widely on issues related to asteroid mining and the space economy,law and ethics, and was honored to have Asteroid 9283 Martinelvis named after me. I am inordinately pleased to be the first professional astronomer to visit the Harvard Business School on business.

PhD, University of Leicester 1978

Telescopes and Instruments

Einstein Observatory

NASA’s Einstein Observatory was the first X-ray space telescope designed to produce images of astronomical X-ray sources. The spacecraft operated from 1978 through 1981, providing important observations of pulsars, supernova remnants, supermassive black holes in other galaxies, and many more, paving the way for NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. The X-ray telescope was designed by researchers at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.
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Chandra

The Chandra X-ray Observatory is NASA’s flagship X-ray observatory, providing essential data on everything from the environment surrounding newborn stars to the emissions from hot plasma inside galaxy clusters. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), as part of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, manages Chandra’s day-to-day operations, providing spacecraft control, observation planning, and data processing for astronomers. Chandra is one of NASA’s orbiting Great Observatories, along with the Hubble.

Visit the Chandra Website
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Lynx X-Ray Observatory

The Lynx X-ray Observatory is a proposed X-ray space telescope, designed to be the next generation following NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the European Space Agency’s upcoming Athena Telescope. This observatory will be able to take images of a larger area of the sky in X-ray light with better resolution than any existing telescope, allowing astronomers to study the first supermassive black holes, the hot gas surrounding galaxies as they evolve, and radiation from the earliest stars. Researchers from the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian and other universities are presenting Lynx to NASA for consideration in the 2020 Decadal Survey, with a proposed launch date in the mid-2030s.

Visit the Lynx X-Ray Observatory Website
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