eROSITA (extended ROentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array) is the core instrument on the Russian Spektrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) mission, which was successfully launched from Baikonur on July 13th, 2019. As of February 2022, eROSITA performed four and a third all-sky surveys, mapping the whole X-ray sky with an XMM-Newton-type sensitivity. In the 0.2-2.4 keV band, it is about 20-30 times more sensitive than ROSAT, while the 2.0-8.0 keV band provides the first-ever true imaging survey of the sky. Its design driving science is the detection of large samples of galaxy clusters to redshifts z > 1 to study the large-scale structure in the Universe and to test cosmological models, including Dark Energy.
Although considered to be “secondary science,” the currently available data provide a world of exciting new results also for galactic sources, including Neutron Stars and Pulsars, X-ray binaries, active stars, and especially, extended sources with diffuse emission and a low-surface brightness. Many older and distant supernova remnants fall into this category, making eROSITA the ideal observatory to address the missing SNR problem. In my talk, I will report on the status of the eROSITA mission with the main focus on supernova remnants and compact objects.
Exploring Supernova Remnants with eROSITA