Experiments carried out at the DESY synchrotron in Hamburg indicate that the maximum temperature that may be achieved by heating iron with X-rays is around 3.6 million degrees Celsius (6.5 million degrees Fahrenheit). In this experiment, an X-ray beam from the PETRA III synchrotron was adjusted to match the appropriate spectral lines in order to excite iron ions. As a result, the iron ions fluoresced and released X-rays, which were then examined using spectroscopy.
A long-standing disagreement between theoretical calculations and experimental evidence on the intensity ratios of certain iron X-ray lines was resolved by the researchers by precisely analysing the absolute strength of particular transitions in the iron X-ray spectrum. This made it possible for astronomers to examine X-ray spectra from extremely hot cosmic plasmas—which may reach temperatures of over a million degrees—such as those seen in the solar corona or close to black holes, more precisely. In summary, X-rays may be used to investigate and evaluate the characteristics of matter at temperatures up to millions of degrees, which is the domain of extremely hot cosmic plasmas, even if they do not directly burn the iron to such severe temperatures.