Theories of stellar and supermassive black holes, strongly magnetic neutron stars and supernovae remnants have important unresolved questions.
GEMS, the Gravity and Extreme Magnetism Small Explorer, will detect polarized X-rays from supernova remnants, neutron stars and black holes. Polarization measurements can provide guidance. Polarized X-rays carry information about the structure of cosmic sources that is not available in any other way. GEMS can obtain significant results and prove X-ray polarization's usefulness.
The mission has power capability to allow rotation of the bus and instrument together and pointing with a 30 degree offset from the sun. This mission will be able to observe dozens of sources distributed around the sky.
With the breakthrough technology made in the area of Micropattern Gas Detectors (MPGDs) and use of Time Projection Chambers (TPCs), the GEMS mission will enable scientists for the first time to answer some of NASA's most exciting questions in astrophysics, such as:
