Science
XMM-Newton
Catalogued as XMM-NEWTON
X-ray / Optical Observatory · ESA
Right now
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Europe's largest science satellite and the most sensitive X-ray telescope ever flown. XMM-Newton carries three X-ray telescopes and an optical monitor working simultaneously — it can observe the same target in X-ray and optical light at the same time. Since 2000 it has catalogued over half a million X-ray sources and studied everything from the atmospheres of neutron stars to dark matter halos around galaxy clusters.
Its orbit
- Orbit
- Highly Ellipticalswings far out, then dives back close to Earth
- Altitude
- 18,301–56,975 mi (29,452–91,692 km)
- Inclination
- 64.0°
- One orbit
- 47.9 hours
- NORAD ID
- 25989
- Int’l designator
- 1999-066A
- Launched
- 1999
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 24 Sep 2026.
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