DOCSLIB.ORG

"SIGMA" Telescope G

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Although spectroscopy is available for which will lead toto thethe determination of early-stage observations are mlsslngmissing several SNe lala around maximum light,light, thethe totaltotal mass of radioactiveradioactive 56CO56Co pro­pro- and an unambiguous classification is we still entirely lack bolometric lumi­lumi- duced. Regularly spaced spectra of a thenthen impossible.impossible. However, therethere are nosities and regular spectral observa­observa- number of objects will clarify whether all about 70 SNe older than 10 years ac­ac- tionstions beyond 150150 days. It is not clear, inin thethe documented differences are real or cessible fromfrom La Silla, whwhichich are can­can- fact,fact, how wide among various objects due only toto thethe uneven spacing of the didates for detection. Although many are thethe differences suggested both by available information. IfIf thisthis variety rep­rep- difficulties arise when one tries toto locatelocate spectra (Branch et al. 1988) and by light resentsresents differences inin thethe envelopes of thethe very faint candidates insideinside thethe pa­pa- curves (Barbon(Barbon 1980) and how theythey cor­cor- thesethese SNe, itit isis not clear how this relatesrelates rentrent galaxy, even a small number of relaterelate with other parameters. This could toto thethe characteristics of thethe progenitor successes would constitute milestones be a problem forfor thethe frequentfrequent use of stars. inin thethe understanding of thethe evolution of such objects as standard candles un­un- Beside thethe regularlyregularly spaced observa­observa- young SNR. lessless such differences can be accounted tionstions of newly discovered SNe, a special The collaboration with CTIO, with for and calibrated in a systematic way. effort will be devoted toto thethe identifica­identifica- whom important coordinated observa­observa- For thethe lessless luminousluminous and rarerrarer Type IbI b titionon and eventual observation of "very tions have been obtained on SN 19871987A,A, SNe, thethe observational status isis at pre­pre- old" supernovae. There exists, in fact, and with thethe Asiago Observatory, forfor thethe sent even worse. Few objects have opti­opti- an observational gap between thethe latestlatest early stages of thethe SNe visible also from cal light curves, and bolometric informa­informa- stages of SNe, which can be placed at thethe northern hemisphere, should also tiontion isis completely lacking.lacking. Even thethe early about 2 years after thethe lightlight maximum, ensure both a better temporal and spec­spec- spectral evolution isis poorly known (be­(be- and the youngest SNRs, whose ages tral coverage. cause of sparse observations). Because are of the order of a few centuries. The the conditions in the envelope have not optical detection of SN 195701957 D inin MM8383 been clarified, since neither a spectros­spectros- (TurattoFuratto et al., 1989; Long et al., 1989) copic temperature nor a thermal equilib­equilib- and of SN 1885A inin M31M 31 (Fesen et al., References rium calculation have been derived, the 1989) indicatesindicates that itit isis possible to get Barbon, R.: 1980, in SNt,SNI, Proceedings of the actual mass of oxygen has not been precious information on the interrnedi­intermedi- Texas Workshop on Type Il supernovae, determined to within a factor of 10, pre­pre- ate agageses even with the presently avail­avail- ed. J.J.C.C. Wheeler (University of Texas, Au­Au- venting an accurate determination of the able instrurnentation.instrumentation. In particular, the stin), p. 16. mass range of possible progenitors and spectrum of the 30-year-old SN 195701957 D Barbon, R., Cappellaro, E., Turatto, M.: 1989, their contribution to the chemical evolu­evolu- inin M83 shows broad [0111][OIII] 4959, 5007 Astron. Astrophys. Suppt.Suppl. 81, 421. tion of galaxies. lines with asymmetric profiles and a ve­ve- Branch, D., Drucker, W., Jeffery, D.: 1988, Astron. J. 330, L 117.11 7. The heterogeneous class of Type 11II locity of the maximum emission of ap­ap- Fesen, R.A., Hamilton, A.J.S., Saken, J.J.M.:M.: SNe represent another interesting field proximately -650 km/s relative to the 1989, Astrophys.ASlfOphys. J.341,J. 341, L55. of investigation. In particular, we will try rest velocity. This could be due to the Turatto, M., Cappellaro, E., Danziger, I.J.: to understand if different shapes exist presence of dust filling the line-forming 1989, The Messenger 56, 36. also in the bolometric light curves and to region analogous to the situation found Long, K.S., Blair, W.W.P.,P., Krzeminski, W.: determine their total energy budget, in SN 19871987A.A. For this SN, unfortunately, 1989, Astrophys. J. 340, L25. PROFILE OF A KEY PROGRAMME Optical Follow-up Identifications of Hard X-Ray1X-Rayl Soft y-Ray Sources Discovered by the "SIGMA" Telescope G. F,F. BIGNAMI, P.A. CARAVEO, S. MEREGHETTI, lstitutoIstituto Fisica Cosmica, Milano, Italy J. PAUL, A. GOLDWURM, L. VIGROUX, Service d'Astrophysique, CEA Saclay, France P. MANDROU, G. VEDRENNE, J. P. ROQUES, CERS, Toulouse, France The aim of this programme is to The SIGMA telescope (constructed by 11005- 5-10 1o6 6 sec. pointed observations of search for the optical counterparts of two French groups at CEA/SaclayCENSaclay and the 3-axis stabilized telescope. hard X-raylsoftX-ray/soft y-ray sources (including CESR Toulouse) aboard the Soviet After the mandatory outgassing y-ray bursts and transient events) dis-dis­ GRANAT satellite represents the first period of the various SIGMA subsys-subsys­ covered by the SIGMA telescope (suc-(suc­ breakthrough in one of the last unex-unex­ tems, more than two months of in-flight cessfully launched on December 1, plored wavelength regions in as-as­ operations were required both to com-com­ 1989), also exploiting the soft X-ray data tronomy. Launched on December 1, plete the telescope adjustment (a quite of the all sky survey to be performed 1989, it consists of a gamma camera/ difficult task, taking into account the 131 by the ROSAT satellite (launched(Iaunched on coded mask telescope system (see photomultiplier tubes of the gamma May 31, 1990). Fig. I)1) separated by 2.5 m, with imaging camera, the on-board calibration sour-sour­ It will be the first time that coordina-coordina­ capability yielding a source localization ces and the active shielding device), and tion between on-going high-energy accuracy of 2' within a field of view of to evaluate the background along the space missions, such as SIGMA and 4034c; 3 x 40 4c; 7 and a sensitivity inin thethe orbit. This is now stabilized on a rather ROSAT, and ground-based telescopes millicrabmilliCrab region. The energy range goes constant value of 440 counts/sec, which isis implementedimplemented on a programmed long-long­ fromfrom 35 keV toto 1.3 MeV, and operations, compares favourably with thethe one com-com­ termterm basis. planned for twotwo years, will be based on puted on thethe ground of 320 counts/sec, 16 inging aa rapidrapid coordinationcoordination withwith ground·ground- basedbased oplicaloptical observations.observations. ItIt isis worthworth nolingnoting thatthat tMthe rectangutarrectangular telescopetelescope fleldfield ofof viewview fealuresfeatures aa centralcentral area,area, inin whichwhich thethe telescopetelescope isis atat itsits maximum,maximum, surroundedsurrounded byby aa widewide fieldfield ofof decreas­decreas- inging sensitivitysensitivity (the(the half·sensitivityhalf-sensitivity boundaryboundary isis aa 1096x1O? 6 x 119411 ? 4 rectangle)rectangle) withinwithin whichwhich sourcessources cancan stillstill bebe posi­posi- tionedtioned withinwithin aa fewfew arcminutes.arcminutes. InInparallel parallelto tothe the SIGMASlGMA higherhigherenergy energy observations,observations, thethe well~knownwell-known ROSATROSAT missionmission willwill workwork inin thethe softsoft (.1-2(.I -2 keV)keV) X-rayX-ray domain,domain, performingperformingfirst first aasky sky sur­sur- veyvey andand thenthen aa sequeneesequence ofof pointedpointed observations.observations. TheTheproposers proposersof of thisthis ESOESO KeyKey ProgrammeProgramme havehave organizedorganized aa eol­col- laborationlaborationbetween betweenthe the twotwo missionsmissionsfor for exploilingexploiting thethe ROSATROSAT surveysurvey daladata onon thethe basisbasis ofof thethe SIGMASlGMA results.results. ThisThis shouldshould resultresult inin anan improvementimprovement ofof bothboth sourcesource positioningpositioning andand knowledgeknowledge ofof spectralspectral Shape,shape, renderingrendering muehmuch moremore intereslinginteresting andand meaningrulmeaningful thethe searchsearch FiglX8rlgure I;I: The1neSIGMA SIUIVIHcoded coaeamask. maSK. AA patternpattern ofor 4949)( x 53SY absorbingaosoro~ngelementselements (1.5 (7.3an cm tungsten)rungsrenl forfor thethe opticaJoptical counterpart.counterpart.Based Basedon on thethe isis arrangedarranged inin aa URAURA (Uniformly(Uniformly RedundantRedundant Amry),Array), eacheach elementelementis is 9.49.4x x 9.49.4 mm.mm. proposer'sproposer's experieneeexperiencein in opticaloptical studiesstudies ofof ylX-rayyiX-ray sources,sources, thethe additionaddition ofof lhethe ROSATROSAT datadata willwill bebe erucialcrucial 10to thethe successsuccess ofof !histhis profectproject especiallyespecially farfor thethe consideringconsideringthe the eurrentcurrent highhigh levellevel ofof s0­so- themthem havehave aJreadyalready beenbeen observed.observed. searchsearch farfor anan opticaloptical idefltiflcationidentification ofof larlar activity.activity. AtAt thethe endend
Load more

Recommended publications
  • ROSAT PSPC Observations of the Infrared Quasar IRAS 13349
    Mon Not R Astron So c Printed August ROSAT PSPC observations of the infrared quasar IRAS evidence for a warm absorb er with internal dust WN Brandt AC Fabian and KA Pounds Institute of Astronomy Madingley Road Cambridge CB HA Internet wnbastcamacuk acfastcamacuk Xray Astronomy Group Department of Physics Astronomy University of Leicester University Road Leicester LE RH Internet kapstarleacuk ABSTRACT We present spatial temp oral and sp ectral analyses of ROSAT Position Sensitive Pro p ortional Counter PSPC observations of the infrared loud quasar IRAS IRAS is the archetypal highlyp olarized radioquiet QSO and has an op ticalinfrared luminosity of erg s We detect variability in the ROSAT count rate by a factor of in ab out one year and there is also evidence for p er cent variability within one week We nd no evidence for large intrinsic cold absorption of soft Xrays These two facts have imp ortant consequences for the scatteringplus transmission mo del of this ob ject which was developed to explain its high wavelength dep endent p olarization and other prop erties The soft Xray variability makes electron scattering of most of the soft Xrays dicult without a very p eculiar scattering mirror The lack of signicant intrinsic cold Xray absorption together with the large observed E B V suggests either a very p eculiar system geometry or more probably absorp tion by warm ionized gas with internal dust There is evidence for an ionized oxygen edge in the Xray sp ectrum IRAS has many prop erties that are similar to those
    [Show full text]
  • Precollimator for X-Ray Telescope (Stray-Light Baffle) Mindrum Precision, Inc Kurt Ponsor Mirror Tech/SBIR Workshop Wednesday, Nov 2017
    Mindrum.com Precollimator for X-Ray Telescope (stray-light baffle) Mindrum Precision, Inc Kurt Ponsor Mirror Tech/SBIR Workshop Wednesday, Nov 2017 1 Overview Mindrum.com Precollimator •Past •Present •Future 2 Past Mindrum.com • Space X-Ray Telescopes (XRT) • Basic Structure • Effectiveness • Past Construction 3 Space X-Ray Telescopes Mindrum.com • XMM-Newton 1999 • Chandra 1999 • HETE-2 2000-07 • INTEGRAL 2002 4 ESA/NASA Space X-Ray Telescopes Mindrum.com • Swift 2004 • Suzaku 2005-2015 • AGILE 2007 • NuSTAR 2012 5 NASA/JPL/ASI/JAXA Space X-Ray Telescopes Mindrum.com • Astrosat 2015 • Hitomi (ASTRO-H) 2016-2016 • NICER (ISS) 2017 • HXMT/Insight 慧眼 2017 6 NASA/JPL/CNSA Space X-Ray Telescopes Mindrum.com NASA/JPL-Caltech Harrison, F.A. et al. (2013; ApJ, 770, 103) 7 doi:10.1088/0004-637X/770/2/103 Basic Structure XRT Mindrum.com Grazing Incidence 8 NASA/JPL-Caltech Basic Structure: NuSTAR Mirrors Mindrum.com 9 NASA/JPL-Caltech Basic Structure XRT Mindrum.com • XMM Newton XRT 10 ESA Basic Structure XRT Mindrum.com • XMM-Newton mirrors D. de Chambure, XMM Project (ESTEC)/ESA 11 Basic Structure XRT Mindrum.com • Thermal Precollimator on ROSAT 12 http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/ Basic Structure XRT Mindrum.com • AGILE Precollimator 13 http://agile.asdc.asi.it Basic Structure Mindrum.com • Spektr-RG 2018 14 MPE Basic Structure: Stray X-Rays Mindrum.com 15 NASA/JPL-Caltech Basic Structure: Grazing Mindrum.com 16 NASA X-Ray Effectiveness: Straylight Mindrum.com • Correct Reflection • Secondary Only • Backside Reflection • Primary Only 17 X-Ray Effectiveness Mindrum.com • The Crab Nebula by: ROSAT (1990) Chandra 18 S.
    [Show full text]
  • NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Laboratory for High Energy
    1 NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 @S0002-7537~99!00301-7# This report covers the period from July 1, 1997 to June 30, Toshiaki Takeshima, Jane Turner, Ken Watanabe, Laura 1998. Whitlock, and Tahir Yaqoob. This Laboratory’s scientific research is directed toward The following investigators are University of Maryland experimental and theoretical research in the areas of X-ray, Scientists: Drs. Keith Arnaud, Manuel Bautista, Wan Chen, gamma-ray, and cosmic-ray astrophysics. The range of inter- Fred Finkbeiner, Keith Gendreau, Una Hwang, Michael Loe- ests of the scientists includes the Sun and the solar system, wenstein, Greg Madejski, F. Scott Porter, Ian Richardson, stellar objects, binary systems, neutron stars, black holes, the Caleb Scharf, Michael Stark, and Azita Valinia. interstellar medium, normal and active galaxies, galaxy clus- Visiting scientists from other institutions: Drs. Vadim ters, cosmic-ray particles, and the extragalactic background Arefiev ~IKI!, Hilary Cane ~U. Tasmania!, Peter Gonthier radiation. Scientists and engineers in the Laboratory also ~Hope College!, Thomas Hams ~U. Seigen!, Donald Kniffen serve the scientific community, including project support ~Hampden-Sydney College!, Benzion Kozlovsky ~U. Tel such as acting as project scientists and providing technical Aviv!, Richard Kroeger ~NRL!, Hideyo Kunieda ~Nagoya assistance to various space missions. Also at any one time, U.!, Eugene Loh ~U. Utah!, Masaki Mori ~Miyagi U.!, Rob- there are typically between twelve and eighteen graduate stu- ert Nemiroff ~Mich. Tech. U.!, Hagai Netzer ~U. Tel Aviv!, dents involved in Ph.D. research work in this Laboratory. Yasushi Ogasaka ~JSPS!, Lev Titarchuk ~George Mason U.!, Currently these are graduate students from Catholic U., Stan- Alan Tylka ~NRL!, Robert Warwick ~U.
    [Show full text]
  • Nustar Observatory Guide
    NuSTAR Guest Observer Program NuSTAR Observatory Guide Version 3.2 (June 2016) NuSTAR Science Operations Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center, Greenbelt, MD nustar.caltech.edu heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/nustar/index.html i Revision History Revision Date Editor Comments D1,2,3 2014-08-01 NuSTAR SOC Initial draft 1.0 2014-08-15 NuSTAR GOF Release for AO-1 Addition of more information about CZT 2.0 2014-10-30 NuSTAR SOC detectors in section 3. 3.0 2015-09-24 NuSTAR SOC Update to section 4 for release of AO-2 Update for NuSTARDAS v1.6.0 release 3.1 2016-05-10 NuSTAR SOC (nusplitsc, Section 5) 3.2 2016-06-15 NuSTAR SOC Adjustment to section 9 ii Table of Contents Revision History ......................................................................................................................................................... ii 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 NuSTAR Program Organization ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 2. The NuSTAR observatory .................................................................................................................................... 2 2.1 NuSTAR Performance ........................................................................................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Exep Science Plan Appendix (SPA) (This Document)
    ExEP Science Plan, Rev A JPL D: 1735632 Release Date: February 15, 2019 Page 1 of 61 Created By: David A. Breda Date Program TDEM System Engineer Exoplanet Exploration Program NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Dr. Nick Siegler Date Program Chief Technologist Exoplanet Exploration Program NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Concurred By: Dr. Gary Blackwood Date Program Manager Exoplanet Exploration Program NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology EXOPDr.LANET Douglas Hudgins E XPLORATION PROGRAMDate Program Scientist Exoplanet Exploration Program ScienceScience Plan Mission DirectorateAppendix NASA Headquarters Karl Stapelfeldt, Program Chief Scientist Eric Mamajek, Deputy Program Chief Scientist Exoplanet Exploration Program JPL CL#19-0790 JPL Document No: 1735632 ExEP Science Plan, Rev A JPL D: 1735632 Release Date: February 15, 2019 Page 2 of 61 Approved by: Dr. Gary Blackwood Date Program Manager, Exoplanet Exploration Program Office NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory Dr. Douglas Hudgins Date Program Scientist Exoplanet Exploration Program Science Mission Directorate NASA Headquarters Created by: Dr. Karl Stapelfeldt Chief Program Scientist Exoplanet Exploration Program Office NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Dr. Eric Mamajek Deputy Program Chief Scientist Exoplanet Exploration Program Office NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology This research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. © 2018 California Institute of Technology. Government sponsorship acknowledged. Exoplanet Exploration Program JPL CL#19-0790 ExEP Science Plan, Rev A JPL D: 1735632 Release Date: February 15, 2019 Page 3 of 61 Table of Contents 1.
    [Show full text]
  • ROSAT All-Sky Survey
    ROSAT All-Sky Survey S. R. Kulkarni July 22, 2020{July 27, 2020 The Russian-German mission, Spektr-R¨ongtenGamma (SRG) is on the verge of revolution- izing X-ray astronomy. One of the instruments, eROSITA, will be undertaking an imaging survey of the X-ray sky. Each six-month the entire sky will be covered to a sensitivity which is ten times better than the previous such survey (ROSAT). After eight semesters SRG will undertake pointed observations. I provide a condensed history so that a young student can appreciate the importance of SRG/eROSITA. The first all sky survey was undertaken by the Uhuru (aka SAS-1; 1970) satellite. This was followed up by HEAO-1 (aka HEAO-A; 1977) surveys. These surveys detected 339 and 843 sources in the 2{10 keV band. For those interested in arcana, 1 Uhuru count/s is 1:7 × 10−11 erg cm−2 s−1 in the 2{6 keV band. The next major mission was HEAO-2 (aka Einstein; launched in 1978). This was a game changer since, unlike the past missions which used essentially collimators or shadow cam- eras, the centerpiece of Einstein was a true imaging telescope. Furthermore the mission carried an amazing complement of imagers and spectrometers in the focal plane. The mission coincided with my graduate school (1978-1983). R¨ontgensatellit (ROSAT) was a German mission to undertake an X-ray imaging survey of the entire sky { the first such survey. Launched in 1990 it lasted for eight years. It carried two Positional Sensitive Proportional Counter (PSPC; 0.1{2.4 keV), a High Resolution Imager (HRI) and the Wide Field Camera (WFC; 60{300 A).˚ The PSPC, with a field-of- view of 2 degrees, was the primary work horse for the X-ray sky survey and was > 100 more sensitive than the pioneering Uhuru and HEAO-A1 surveys.
    [Show full text]
  • XMM-Newton Spectra of Hard Spectrum Rosat AGN: X-Ray Absorption and Optical Reddening
    A&A 420, 163–172 (2004) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20035683 & c ESO 2004 Astrophysics XMM-Newton spectra of hard spectrum Rosat AGN: X-ray absorption and optical reddening F. J. Carrera1,M.J.Page2, and J. P. D. Mittaz3 1 Instituto de F´ısica de Cantabria (CSIC-UC), Avenida de los Castros, 39005 Santander, Spain 2 Mullard Space Science Laboratory-University College London, Surrey RH5 6NT, UK e-mail: [email protected] 3 University of Huntsville, Alabama, USA e-mail: [email protected] Received 14 November 2003 / Accepted 3 March 2004 Abstract. We present the XMM-Newton spectra of three low-redshift intermediate Seyferts (one Sy 1.5, and two Sy 1.8), from our survey of hard spectrum Rosat sources. The three AGN are well fitted by absorbed powerlaws, with intrinsic nuclear photo- electric absorption from column densities between 1.3 and 4.0 × 1021 cm−2. In the brightest object the X-ray spectrum is good enough to show that the absorber is not significantly ionized. For all three objects the powerlaw slopes appear to be somewhat flatter (Γ ∼ 1.3−1.6) than those found in typical unabsorbed Seyferts. The constraints from optical and X-ray emission lines imply that all three objects are Compton-thin. For the two fainter objects, the reddening deduced from the optical broad emis- sion lines in one of them, and the optical continuum in the other, are similar to those expected from the X-ray absorption, if we assume a Galactic gas-to-dust ratio and reddening curve.
    [Show full text]
  • 19 93MNRAS.2 60. .631B Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 260, 631
    Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 260, 631-634 (1993) .631B 60. ROSAT EUV and soft X-ray studies of atmospheric composition and structure in Gl 91-B2B 93MNRAS.2 19 M. A. Barstow,1 T. A. Fleming,2 D.S. Finley,3 D. Koester4 and C. J. Diamond5 1 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LEI 7RH 2 Max-Planck-Institutßr Extraterrestriche Physik, Giessenbachstrasse, Garching bei München, Germany 3 Center for EUV Astrophysics, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA 4 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge 70803-4001, Louisiana, USA 5 School of Physics and Space Research, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham BI5 2TT Accepted 1992 July 28. Received 1992 July 15 ABSTRACT Previous studies of the hot DA white dwarf G191-B2B have been unable to deter- mine whether the observed soft X-ray and EUV opacity arises from a stratified hydrogen and helium atmosphere or from the presence of trace metals in the photo- sphere. New EUV and soft X-ray photometry of this star, made with the ROSAT observatory, when analysed in conjunction with the earlier data, shows that the strati- fied models cannot account for the observed fluxes. Consequently, we conclude that trace metals must be a substantial source of opacity in the photosphere of G191-B2B. Key words: stars: abundances - stars: individual: G191-B2B - white dwarfs - X-rays: stars. 1 INTRODUCTION optical and ultraviolet (UV ) spectra. Furthermore, Vennes et al. (1988) have ruled out homogeneous models on theore- G191-B2B has been one the most widely studied of the tical grounds.
    [Show full text]
  • Chronology of NASA Expendable Vehicle Missions Since 1990
    Chronology of NASA Expendable Vehicle Missions Since 1990 Launch Launch Date Payload Vehicle Site1 June 1, 1990 ROSAT (Roentgen Satellite) Delta II ETR, 5:48 p.m. EDT An X-ray observatory developed through a cooperative program between Germany, the U.S., and (Delta 195) LC 17A the United Kingdom. Originally proposed by the Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik (MPE) and designed, built and operated in Germany. Launched into Earth orbit on a U.S. Air Force vehicle. Mission ended after almost nine years, on Feb. 12, 1999. July 25, 1990 CRRES (Combined Radiation and Release Effects Satellite) Atlas I ETR, 3:21 p.m. EDT NASA payload. Launched into a geosynchronous transfer orbit for a nominal three-year mission to (AC-69) LC 36B investigate fields, plasmas, and energetic particles inside the Earth's magnetosphere. Due to onboard battery failure, contact with the spacecraft was lost on Oct. 12, 1991. May 14, 1991 NOAA-D (TIROS) (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-D) Atlas-E WTR, 11:52 a.m. EDT A Television Infrared Observing System (TIROS) satellite. NASA-developed payload; USAF (Atlas 50-E) SLC 4 vehicle. Launched into sun-synchronous polar orbit to allow the satellite to view the Earth's entire surface and cloud cover every 12 hours. Redesignated NOAA-12 once in orbit. June 29, 1991 REX (Radiation Experiment) Scout 216 WTR, 10:00 a.m. EDT USAF payload; NASA vehicle. Launched into 450 nm polar orbit. Designed to study scintillation SLC 5 effects of the Earth's atmosphere on RF transmissions. 114th launch of Scout vehicle.
    [Show full text]
  • Ii. Future Missions (A) X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Missions
    II. FUTURE MISSIONS (A) X-RAY AND GAMMA-RAY MISSIONS Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.93, on 27 Sep 2021 at 05:30:15, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0252921100076909 RONTGEN SATELLITE J. TRUMPER MPI fur Extraterrestrische Physik, D-8O46 Garching-bei-Miinchen The ROSAT launch on June 1, 1990 happened to be after the IAU Colloquium No. 123 before the deadline for submitting manuscripts. I therefore take the liberty to deviate grossly from the manuscript of my talk and give a short up to date mission summary. A more complete description of the mission can be found in References 1 and 2. The launch of the Delta II rocket was perfect and the orbital parameters reached are very close to nominal: height 580 km, inclination 53°. The predicted satellite's lifetime in this orbital is at least 10 years. The switch-on of the spacecraft and instrument subsystems could be completed without any losses. All systems are in good health. ROSAT carries two instruments: — a large Wolter telescope covering the energy range 0.1-2.4 keV with two position sensitive proportional counters (PSPC) and one high resolution imager (HRI) and — Wolter-Schwarzschild-telescope with two channel plate detectors covering the adjacent XUV-range. The novel features of the X-ray telescope are: — large collecting power — good spectral resolution of the PSPC's: AE/E ~ 0.4 at 1 keV; four colours — low background of the PSPC's: 3 x 10-5 cts/arcmin2 sec — high angular resolution with the HRI: < 4 arcsec half power width (PSPC ~ 25 arcsec) The ROSAT mission comprises three phases: After the initial calibration and verification phase an all sky survey is carried out during half a year, followed by a period of pointed observations.
    [Show full text]
  • RICCARDO GIACCONI Associated Universities, Inc., Suite 730, 1400 16Th St., NW, Washington, DC 20036, USA, and Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N
    THE DAWN OF X-RAY ASTRONOMY Nobel Lecture, December 8, 2002 by RICCARDO GIACCONI Associated Universities, Inc., Suite 730, 1400 16th St., NW, Washington, DC 20036, USA, and Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, USA. 1.0 INTRODUCTION The development of rockets and satellites capable of carrying instruments outside the absorbing layers of the Earth’s atmosphere has made possible the observation of celestial objects in the x-ray range of wavelength. X-rays of energy greater than several hundreds of electron volts can pene- trate the interstellar gas over distances comparable to the size of our own galaxy, with greater or lesser absorption depending on the direction of the line of sight. At energies of a few kilovolts, x-rays can penetrate the entire col- umn of galactic gas and in fact can reach us from distances comparable to the radius of the universe. The possibility of studying celestial objects in x-rays has had a profound sig- nificance for all astronomy. Over the x-ray to gamma-ray range of energies, x- rays are, by number of photons, the most abundant flux of radiation that can reveal to us the existence of high energy events in the cosmos. By high ener- gy events I mean events in which the total energy expended is extremely high (supernova explosions, emissions by active galactic nuclei, etc.) or in which the energy acquired per nucleon or the temperature of the matter involved is extremely high (infall onto collapsed objects, high temperature plasmas, in- teraction of relativistic electrons with magnetic or photon fields).
    [Show full text]
  • An INTEGRAL Hard X-Ray Survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud
    A&A 448, 873–880 (2006) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20053744 & c ESO 2006 Astrophysics An INTEGRAL hard X-ray survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud D. Götz1,S.Mereghetti1, D. Merlini1,2, L. Sidoli1, and T. Belloni3 1 INAF - Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica, via Bassini 15, 20133 Milano, Italy e-mail: [email protected] 2 Dipartimento di Fisica - Università degli Studi di Milano, via Celoria 16, 20133 Milano, Italy 3 INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, via E. Bianchi 46, 23807 Merate, Italy Received 1 July 2005 / Accepted 27 October 2005 ABSTRACT Two observation campaigns in 2003 and 2004 with the INTEGRAL satellite have provided the first sensitive survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud with an imaging instrument in the hard X-ray range (15 keV–10 MeV). The high energy flux and long-term variability of the black hole candidate LMC X–1 was measured for the first time without contamination by the nearby (∼25) young pulsar PSR B0540–69. We studied the accreting pulsar LMC X–4 by constraining the size of the hard X-ray emitting region (≤3 × 1010 cm) from analysis of its eclipses and by measuring its spin period (13.497 ± 0.005 s) in the 20–40 keV band. As it was in a soft state during the first observation and possibly in an extremely low state in the second one, LMC X–3 was not detected. Thanks to the large field of view of the IBIS instrument, we could also study other sources falling serendipitously in the observed sky region around the LMC: the Galactic low mass X-ray binary EXO 0748–676, the accreting pulsar SMC X–1 in the Small Magellanic Cloud, and the Active Galactic Nucleus IRAS 04575–7537.
    [Show full text]