Hitomi (ASTRO-H) X-ray Astronomy Satellite
Done, Chris; Safi-Harb, Samar; Hamaguchi, Kenji; Nakagawa, Takao; McNamara, Brian R.; Dotani, Tadayasu; Miller, Eric D.; Azzarello, Philipp; Fabian, Andrew C.; Brenneman, Laura W.; Sugawara, Yasuharu; Maeda, Yoshitomo; Ishida, Manabu; Katsuda, Satoru; Petre, Robert; Enoto, Teruaki; Kunieda, Hideyo; Haba, Yoshito; Allen, Steven W.; Gandhi, Poshak; Tsujimoto, Masahiro; Okajima, Takashi; Eckart, Megan E.; Hayashi, Takayuki; Hoshino, Akio; Iizuka, Ryo; Kelley, Richard L.; Kilbourne, Caroline A.; Leutenegger, Maurice A.; Mori, Hideyuki; Porter, Frederick S.; Sato, Kosuke; Serlemitsos, Peter J.; Szymkowiak, Andrew; Yaqoob, Tahir; Yamaoka, Kazutaka; Fukazawa, Yasushi; Kamae, Tsuneyoshi; Kokubun, Motohide; Makishima, Kazuo; Murakami, Toshio; Nakazawa, Kazuhiro; Ohno, Masanori; Sato, Goro; Sugita, Satoshi; Tajima, Hiroyasu; Takahashi, Tadayuki; Tashiro, Makoto S.; Terada, Yukikatsu; Yamauchi, Makoto; Yoshida, Atsumasa; Yamaguchi, Hiroya; Koyama, Katsuji; Hughes, John P.; Kretschmar, Peter; Pottschmidt, Katja; Ezoe, Yuichiro; Ishikawa, Kumi; Ohashi, Takaya; Mitsuda, Kazuhisa; Fujimoto, Ryuichi; DiPirro, Michael; Shirron, Peter; Gu, Liyi; Mehdipour, Missagh; Uchida, Hiroyuki; Ueda, Yoshihiro; Awaki, Hisamitsu; Terashima, Yuichi; Sato, Yoichi; Shinozaki, Keisuke; Sugita, Hiroyuki; Yamasaki, Noriko Y.; Ebisawa, Ken; Zoghbi, Abderahmen; Miller, Jon M.; Hayashida, Kiyoshi; Nakajima, Hiroshi; Matsumoto, Hironori; Takahashi, Hiromitsu; Paerels, Frits; Kaastra, Jelle; Bamba, Aya; Mori, Koji; Guainazzi, Matteo; Uchiyama, Yasunobu; Ishibashi, Kazunori; Kawaharada, Madoka; Kitaguchi, Takao; Wik, Daniel R.; Urry, C. Megan; Krimm, Hans A.; Miyazawa, Takuya; Kubota, Aya; Nobukawa, Masayoshi; Nakashima, Shinya; Tsuru, Takeshi Go; Tanaka, Takaaki; Galeazzi, Massimiliano; Gallo, Luigi C.; Anabuki, Naohisa; Yonetoku, Daisuke; Angelini, Lorella; Kara, Erin; Tombesi, Francesco; Mukai, Koji; Uchiyama, Hideki; Aharonian, Felix; Akamatsu, Hiroki; Akimoto, Fumie; Audard, Marc; Axelsson, Magnus; Bautz, Marshall W.; Blandford, Roger; Brown, Gregory V.; Bulbul, Esra; Cackett, Edward M.; Chernyakova, Maria; Chiao, Meng P.; Coppi, Paolo S.; Costantini, Elisa; de Plaa, Jelle; de Vries, Cor P.; den Herder, Jan-Willem; Ferrigno, Carlo; Foster, Adam R.; Furuzawa, Akihiro; Giustini, Margherita; Goldwurm, Andrea; Hagino, Kouichi; Harrus, Ilana M.; Hatsukade, Isamu; Hayashi, Katsuhiro; Hiraga, Junko S.; Hornschemeier, Ann; Ichinohe, Yuto; Inoue, Hajime; Inoue, Yoshiyuki; Ishisaki, Yoshitaka; Iwai, Masachika; Kallman, Tim; Kataoka, Jun; Kawai, Nobuyuki; Kitamoto, Shunji; Kitayama, Tetsu; Kohmura, Takayoshi; Koyama, Shu; Laurent, Philippe; Lee, Shiu-Hang; Loewenstein, Michael; Long, Knox S.; Lumb, David; Madejski, Greg; Maier, Daniel; Markevitch, Maxim; Matsushita, Kyoko; McCammon, Dan; Mineshige, Shin; Mitsuishi, Ikuyuki; Mizuno, Tsunefumi; Murakami, Hiroshi; Mushotzky, Richard F.; Nakamori, Takeshi; Nobukawa, Kumiko K.; Noda, Hirofumi; Odaka, Hirokazu; Ota, Naomi; Ozaki, Masanobu; Paltani, Stéphane; Pinto, Ciro; Saito, Shinya; Sakai, Kazuhiro; Sasaki, Toru; Sato, Rie; Sawada, Makoto; Schartel, Norbert; Seta, Hiromi; Shidatsu, Megumi; Simionescu, Aurora; Smith, Randall K.; Soong, Yang; Stawarz, Łukasz; Takei, Yoh; Tamagawa, Toru; Tamura, Takayuki; Tanaka, Yasuo; Tanaka, Yasuyuki T.; Tawara, Yuzuru; Tomida, Hiroshi; Tsuboi, Yohko; Tsunemi, Hiroshi; Ueda, Shutaro; Ursino, Eugenio; Watanabe, Shin; Werner, Norbert; Wilkins, Dan R.; Williams, Brian J.; Yamada, Shinya; Yamauchi, Shigeo; Yatsu, Yoichi; Zhuravleva, Irina; Doty, John; Yuasa, Takayuki; Nakano, Toshio; Takeda, Shin'ichiro; Nagino, Ryo; Natsukari, Chikara; Nishioka, Yusuke; Tamura, Keisuke; Limousin, Olivier; Uno, Shin'ichiro; Ueno, Shiro; Watanabe, Tomomi; Arnaud, Keith; Muench, Theodore; Khangulyan, Dmitry; Funk, Stefan; Katsuta, Junichiro; Ohta, Masayuki; Okamoto, Atsushi; Konami, Saori; Asai, Makoto; Sameshima, Hiroaki; Ogawa, Mina; Kimball, Mark; Ishimura, Kosei; Iwata, Naoko; Kawano, Taro; Moroso, Franco; Haas, Daniel; Sneiderman, Gary; Parmar, Arvind; Wada, Atsushi; Minesugi, Kenji; Itoh, Masayuki; Reynolds, Christopher; King, Ashley; Iyomoto, Naoko; Moseley, Harvey; Nomachi, Masaharu; O'Dell, Steve; Pohl, Martin; Ramsey, Brian; Russell, Helen; Kosaka, Tatsuro; Nagano, Housei; Namba, Yoshiharu; Ogi, Keiji; Boyce, Kevin; Ogawa, Hiroyuki; Baluta, Chris; Bando, Nobutaka; Bialas, Thomas; Canavan, Edgar; Gilmore, Kirk; Hirose, Kazuyuki; Jewell, Chris; Kawasaki, Shigeo; Koujelev, Alex; Masters, Candace; Mcguinness, Daniel; Miko, Joseph; Okazaki, Tsuyoshi; Pontius, James; Sakai, Shin-ichiro; Shibano, Yasuko; Shida, Maki; Shimada, Takanobu; Simmons, Cynthia; Yamada, Takahiro
Japan, United States, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Spain, Poland, Hungary
Abstract
The Hitomi (ASTRO-H) mission is the sixth Japanese x-ray astronomy satellite developed by a large international collaboration, including Japan, USA, Canada, and Europe. The mission aimed to provide the highest energy resolution ever achieved at E > 2 keV, using a microcalorimeter instrument, and to cover a wide energy range spanning four decades in energy from soft x-rays to gamma rays. After a successful launch on February 17, 2016, the spacecraft lost its function on March 26, 2016, but the commissioning phase for about a month provided valuable information on the onboard instruments and the spacecraft system, including astrophysical results obtained from first light observations. The paper describes the Hitomi (ASTRO-H) mission, its capabilities, the initial operation, and the instruments/spacecraft performances confirmed during the commissioning operations for about a month.