China develops ‘lobster eye’ space telescope that can do a wider and deeper x-ray of the universe

A satellite telescope that can perform a wider and deeper x-ray of the universe has recently been built by China.

The world’s first ‘lobster eye’ space telescope, which will be able to take x-ray photographs of the universe with unparalleled efficiency, was successfully tested by the country.

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports that the Lobster Eye Imager for Astronomy, or LEIA, has successfully captured high-quality photographs of the Magellanic Clouds, the Scorpius constellation, and the X-ray sources at the centre of our galaxy.

Last week, The Astrophysical Journal Letters, a peer-reviewed journal, published a report on the accomplishment.

The mission’s chief scientist, astrophysicist Yuan Weimin of Beijing’s National Astronomical Observatory said that his team was excited about LEIA’s results and that the results have ‘shown that our technology works and the observation precision exceeded our expectation.’

The so-called ‘lobster eye’ telescope gains its name from crustaceans such as lobster and shrimp who have evolved to develop a way to adapt their eyes to murky depths underwater.