Victoria Kaspi, McGill University

Comet Shomaker- Levy

Comet Hyakatuke May 1996

Jupiter Collision July `94 Large Magellanic Cloud Supernova 1987A before Feb 23, 1987 Feb 23, 1987 Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

 Many (all?) stars emit X-rays  Many (all?) galaxies emit X-rays  Our Sun emits X-rays . Solar “Corona” . Highly dynamic, changing . Linked to solar flares, prominences,

 remnant of supernova from July 3-4, 1054 AD  witnessed by Asian astrologers, recorded  visible daytime for 23 days; night time 623 days  discovered by Messier in 1758  hand-sketch looked like a Crab(!)

Anasazi Indian cave pictogram, Chaco Canyon, NM Crab Nebula pulsar

NOTE: MANY IMAGES ARE IN “FALSE” COLOUR!

Optical disk/torus X-rays jet Motion in the Crab Nebula

X-ray Hubble Space Telescope

The Inside of a Massive Star:

• giant ball of gas • supports its own weight by nuclear fusion at its centre • can only do this while fuel supply lasts…

Orion

Betelgeuse Near center of Crab is a neutron star: a pulsar.

The Crab pulsar pulsates 30 times every second!

this time sequence lasts 0.033 seconds!

 left is image of the Sun made with NASA’s TRACE mission  loops of hot plasma trace out solar magnetic fields  source of solar flares, prominences  solar magnetic field MAGNETAR FIELD ~100 times larger ~10 QUADRILLION than that on Earth TIMES LARGER! total energy released in 1 minute equal to amount Sun releases in 3000 years!

gamma rays

Mazets et al. 1979

From supernova remnant N49 in LMC

Centaurus A Galaxy: optical light Centaurus A Galaxy: radio light

Centaurus A Galaxy: X-ray light Galaxy Centaurus A  Centaurus A is an active galaxy  quasars are an extreme form of active galaxy where central source outshines entire galaxy  incredibly luminous: powered by central supermassive black hole via accretion of matter

 Must be in space as X-rays cannot penetrate atmosphere  X-rays hard to focus!  Need special geometries, materials

XMM-Newton Chandra

MAXI

NuSTAR

Suzaku Swift  Launched June 14, 2012  First focusing “hard” X- ray telescope . hard” = high-energy  ~100X more sensitive than previous hard X-ray telescopes  10-m focal length: long! . How to launch??  The X-ray sky is interesting!  Dynamic, volatile…exciting  Stars, pulsars, black holes, active galaxies  X-ray space telescopes  NuSTAR launched! NUSTAR IN SPACE NUSTAR PEGASUS LAUNCH