NASA's newest X-ray telescope rockets into orbit

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SpaceX launched the spacecraft on its US$188 million mission from Kennedy Space Center. It's called IXPE, short for Imaging X-ray Polarization Explorer.

Scientists said the observatory -- actually three telescopes in one -- will unveil the most dramatic and extreme parts of the universe as never before.

"IXPE is going to open a new window on the X-ray sky," Brian Ramsey, NASA's deputy principal scientist, said this week.

Operations should begin next month. NASA is partnering with the Italian Space Agency on the project.