X-ray transients as seen by Vela, 1969-1979

Vela spacecraft 5A and 5B were launched into orbit in May 1969, to monitor for nuclear tests in space. These spacecraft were among the first to be capable of x-ray astronomy. One of these, Vela 5B, monitored the entire x-ray sky for the unprecedented period of 10 years, from May 1969 to June 1979. Over the last several years the data produced have been re-analyzed to produce a series of skymaps. These have now been made into a movie, in color, showing the changes in the x-ray sky over the period 1969-1976.