The Russian X-ray telescope ART-XC named after M. N. Pavlinsky, installed on board the space observatory "Spektr-RG", will complete its eighth full survey of the celestial sphere on December 28. This was announced by Alexander Lutovinov, Deputy Director of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, at the conference "High Energy Astrophysics Today and Tomorrow 2025" (HEA-2025).
According to him, the completion of the 2023–2025 observation cycle will allow the creation of an updated map of the sky in the hard X-ray range and conduct an in-depth survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud. Among the scientific achievements of ART-XC in 2025 is the discovery of a powerful quasar hidden by dense layers of dust and gas, as well as the first detailed mapping of diffuse X-ray emission in the central region of the Galaxy.
Scientists note the unique state of the telescope's detectors — contrary to expectations, their characteristics have improved over time. The detectors operate daily, interrupted only by a short depolarization to maintain the quality of measurements.
There is such a thing as leakage current, which should increase with increasing radiation load and degradation, but for some reason it decreases for us," said Lutovinov. "That is, the detectors are getting better and better, despite the fact that they are flying in space. I don't know why
The Spektr-RG Observatory, created by NPO Lavochkin on behalf of the Russian Academy of Sciences and launched on July 13, 2019, operates at point L2 — approximately one and a half million kilometers from Earth. It is equipped with two telescopes: the Russian ART-XC, which observes in the hard X-ray range, and the German eRosita, which operates in the soft range. After the German side put its telescope into safe mode in 2022, the Russian apparatus continued the observation program independently, moving on to a deep survey of the Milky Way.