Tenma

An artist's conception of the Tenma satellite in oribt. (Credit: ISAS/JAXA)

Lifetime: February 1983 - November 1985

Country (primary): Japan

Primary Science

The primary science objective of the Tenma mission was to provide high-resolution spectroscopy of the X-ray emission from stars and to observe gamma-ray bursts.

Science Highlights

• Discovered hot plasma located along the Galactic plane
• Discovered the iron absorption line in the energy spectra of X-ray bursts, which was redshifted in the strong gravitational field of the neutron star
• Discovered that cold iron (in other words, neutral iron, not ionized) is responsible for the iron emission line in X-ray pulsars

Links to more information

• Tenma on HEASARC
• Tenma on JAXA/ISAS