Einstein Probe detects an X-ray flare from nearby star

5 comments

• martinpw 35 days ago
  This threw me at first. There was an NASA X-ray imaging telescope in the late 70s/early 80s called Einstein:

  https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/einstein/heao2.html

  But this is a new Chinese instrument, also an X-ray telescope, also called Einstein:

  https://ep.bao.ac.cn/ep/

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  • xioxox 34 days ago
    Pedantically, it's Einstein Probe (EP), not Einstein. Confusingly, in Chinese it has another name, Tianguan, commemorating the observation of the supernova which created the Crab Nebula.
  • NoiseBert69 35 days ago
    Chinese + ESA contributions
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    • xioxox 34 days ago
      China + ESA + Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) + Centro Nacional de Estudios Espaciales (CNES) contributions
• gammarator 35 days ago
  This is not very newsworthy, stellar flares are common and known to emit X-rays.
• aussieguy1234 35 days ago
  If measured the way we measure solar flares (M1, X1 etc) what would this one be rated as?
• wglb 35 days ago
  Article in https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.16679
• ralfhn 35 days ago
  For a second I was really confused about what Epstein had to do with x-rays
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  • justarandomname 34 days ago
    SAME, I thought there was a bit flip in the files or something.