Overview

There are many energetic objects emitting X-rays in the universe. We can identify the origins as black holes, neutron stars, relativistic jets etc. by studying the X-rays. The X-ray objects are highly variable from the time scale of milli-seconds to years. We need a monitor to detect their flares and bursts watching all the sky all the time. For that purpose, the monitor of all-sky X-ray image, MAXI, is developed to be mounted on the Japanese Experimental Module of the International Space Station.   MAXI has not only a wide field of view, but also a higher sensitivity by an order of magnitude than ever. The observable distance reaches to the extra galactic objects. The figure is conceptual drawing of the extra galactic nucleus, i.e. a black hole emitting jets, surrounding by thick accretion torus. The MAXI data are automatically processed. When it discovers a transient, an alert will be issued to observers world-wide within 30s.   This web page contains a part of the MAXI data products.

copyright (c) RIKEN, JAXA, MAXI team.