First Detection of the Doppler Shift of X-Ray Photons Due to a Telescope’s Orbital Motion
- 1Department of Physics and Astronomy Michigan State University
Abstract
We have detected for the first time the redshifting and blueshifting of X-ray photons due to the orbital motion of an X-ray telescope around the Earth. Current and planned X-ray telescopes like XRISM/Resolve and NewAthena can achieve energy resolutions R = E /Δ E ≈ 1000, requiring spectroscopic calibration of physical effects such as the local standard of rest and the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. We construct an a priori method for detecting a heretofore unexamined effect: the modulation of redshift due to the motion of an X-ray telescope around the Earth. We apply this pipeline to several XRISM/Resolve observations of narrow Fe K α emission lines from Galactic center molecular clouds, and we detect evidence of orbital redshift modulation in the Fe K α emission at the 95% confidence level. Our findings suggest that orbital redshift modulation is already present and detectable in X-ray data and motivate reexamination of how X-ray photon data are packaged in the emerging era of high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy.
Versions
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BibTeX
@article{dikerby2026first,
title = {{First Detection of the Doppler Shift of X-Ray Photons Due to a Telescope’s Orbital Motion}},
author = {Stephen DiKerby and Shuo Zhang},
journal = {The Astrophysical Journal},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/aeaa50},
url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aeaa50},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - First Detection of the Doppler Shift of X-Ray Photons Due to a Telescope’s Orbital Motion
AU - Stephen DiKerby
AU - Shuo Zhang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/29
JO - The Astrophysical Journal
DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/aeaa50
UR - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aeaa50
AB - We have detected for the first time the redshifting and blueshifting of X-ray photons due to the orbital motion of an X-ray telescope around the Earth. Current and planned X-ray telescopes like XRISM/Resolve and NewAthena can achieve energy resolutions R = E /Δ E ≈ 1000, requiring spectroscopic calibration of physical effects such as the local standard of rest and the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. We construct an a priori method for detecting a heretofore unexamined effect: the modulation of redshift due to the motion of an X-ray telescope around the Earth. We apply this pipeline to several XRISM/Resolve observations of narrow Fe K α emission lines from Galactic center molecular clouds, and we detect evidence of orbital redshift modulation in the Fe K α emission at the 95% confidence level. Our findings suggest that orbital redshift modulation is already present and detectable in X-ray data and motivate reexamination of how X-ray photon data are packaged in the emerging era of high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy.
SN - 1538-4357
SN - 0004-637X
ER -