Hitomi Microcalorimeter Array Animation (4k)

This animation illustrates how the microcalorimeter array at the heart of Hitomi's revolutionary Soft X-ray Spectrometer works. X-ray light collected by a telescope strikes the detector. Each photon heats the material by an amount directly proportional to its energy. The instrument, which is cooled to near absolute zero, detects this minute temperature change.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center