Astronomers release eROSITA data nearly doubling X-ray catalog near 2 million
Big news from space: astronomers have released a massive new batch of data from the eROSITA X-ray telescope, nearly doubling the known catalog of cosmic X-ray sources to nearly 2 million.
This treasure trove comes from three all-sky surveys over 556 days, capturing everything from supermassive black holes to exploding stars.
Catalog dominated by active black holes
Most of these new discoveries are active black holes in faraway galaxies, about 88% of classified sources, in fact.
The catalog also features around 64,000 sources that help scientists study dark matter, dark energy, and how our universe has evolved, including massive galaxy clusters, nearby galaxies, and the glowing remnants of exploded stars.
Even though eROSITA stopped collecting scientific observations in 2022, its data is now out there for anyone curious enough to explore, and another update is already planned for 2028.