The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian

The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian

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Christine Jones

Center for Astrophysics

Christine Jones

cjones@cfa.harvard.edu

About

Although Christine Jones began her scientific career by studying binary X-ray sources in our Galaxy, for the past several decades, clusters of galaxies, as well as early type galaxies, have been a primary focus of Jones' research, beginning with the Einstein and ROSAT X-ray observatories and continuing today with Chandra, XMM-Newton, and HST. The X-ray missions allowed us to map the spatial distribution of the hot intracluster gas which showed that 1) at least 40 percent of clusters are not gravitationally "relaxed" systems, but were undergoing subcluster mergers, a well as the infall of massive galaxies, 2) hot gas is the dominant luminous mass in clusters, and 3) that dark matter exists in clusters. X-ray imaging observations also showed that massive early-type galaxies have hot extended X-ray halos, and thus have massive dark matter halos. Chandra observations have shown outbursts from supermassive black holes that lie in the cores of clusters, galaxy groups and early type galaxies. The size of the cavities created by an outburst allows us to determine the amount of kinetic energy released by the supermassive black hole, which at the present epoch is far greater than the radiative energy of the black hole.

Harvard University AB, MA, PhD

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.

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

MMT Observatory

The MMT Observatory is the premier visible-light and infrared telescope jointly managed by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, part of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and the University of Arizona. Located at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (FLWO) in southern Arizona, this 6.5-meter (21 foot) telescope is used to study objects across the field of astronomy, from the Solar System to distant galaxies. The MMT has provided a testbed for new telescope technologies developed by scientists and engineers at the CfA and the University of Arizona.

Visit the MMT Website

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

Uhuru

The Uhuru X-ray Explorer Satellite was the first spacecraft dedicated to X-ray astronomy. During its mission in the early 1970s, Uhuru mapped the X-ray sky. It provided the first observational evidence for black holes, revealed that galaxy clusters contain hot X-ray-emitting gas, and charted the behavior of neutron stars in binary systems. The observatory was named Uhuru, the Swahili word meaning “freedom”, in honor of Kenyan independence and because the rocket carrying the spacecraft was launched into orbit from a site off the coast of Kenya near Mombasa. The success of the Uhuru satellite led the way for all subsequent space telescopes, from the Einstein Observatory to NASA’s flagship Chandra X-ray Observatory.