Athena: ESA's X-ray observatory to study the Hot and Energetic Universe

Abstract

Athena is a mission proposed to address the science theme “The Hot and Energetic Universe” which has been selected by ESA in its Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 programme. It has three key scientific objectives: 1) Determine how and when large scale hot gas structures formed in the Universe and track their evolution from the formation epoch to the present day 2) Perform a complete census of black hole growth in the Universe, determine the physical processes responsible for that growth and its influence on larger scales, and trace these and other energetic and transient phenomena to the earliest cosmic epochs 3) Provide a unique contribution to astrophysics in the 2030s by exploring high energy phenomena in all astrophysical contexts, including those yet to be discovered.This will be achieved by a large X-ray observatory offering spatially-resolved X-ray spectroscopy and deep wide-field X-ray spectral imaging with performance greatly exceeding that offered by current X-ray observatories.