X-ray microcalorimeters for Astro-E2 and high-energy astrophysics

The Japan/US Suzaku (formerly Astro-E2) astrophysics mission has been successfully launched. Suzaku is a powerful new orbiting observatory for studying extremely energetic processes in the universe. Sensitive X-ray spectrometers have been designed to enable precise measurements of high-energy processes in stars, supernova remnants, galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and the environments around neutron stars and black holes. One of the instruments is the high resolution X-ray spectrometer (XRS) that features a 32-pixel array of microcalorimeters with 6 eV (FWHM) spectral resolution, the first such device to be placed into orbit. We will describe the capabilities of the XRS instrument and present some of the very early in-flight results, which clearly show that this new technology can work extremely well in space.