Line Emission Mapper (LEM)

The Line Emission Mapper (LEM) is a mission concept under development in response to NASA’s APEX Announcement of Opportunity. LEM consists of a single instrument composed of a wide-field X-ray optic and a microcalorimeter at the focal plane optimized to study low surface brightness X-ray emission from galaxy haloes, cluster filaments, supernova remnants, star forming regions and large scale diffuse structures in the Milky Way. This observatory will provide paradigm-changing capability in the broad area of formation of structure. Most of the observing time from this observatory will be dedicated to the Guest Observer program, however, and LEM will provide transformative capability in all areas of X-ray astrophysics including the study of active galactic nuclei, stellar astrophysics, exoplanets, planetary sciences, as well as time domain and multi-messenger astrophysics. In this presentation, I will briefly summarize the capabilities of LEM and outline the full breadth of LEM science.