Prof. Hale Van Dorn Bradt

RXTE, an earth-orbiting X-ray astronomy observatory, studies X-ray emission from black-holes and neutron stars with high statistics so the plasmas in their vicinities can be studied with time resolutions comparable to the dynamical time constants of matter in the deep potential wells. The mission, among other important results, has revealed the presence of accreting X-ray pulsars (neutron stars) with spin periods of a few milliseconds. It has also demonstrated a link between accretion and jet formation in (black-hole) 'microquasars.' Microquasars are black-hole accretors in the Milky-Way Galaxy which exhibit pronounced radio jets, as do their more massive and distant counterparts, the well known extragalactic quasars.