ASCA and ROSAT observations show that many groups of galaxies contain diffusehot gas and that the metalicity of this gas quickly decreases with decreasinggas temperature. This trend is thought to occur because winds from earlyellipticals cannot be contained by low mass groups. While high temperature, highmetalicity groups are currently included in the XMM GTO program the groups withthe lowest masses (lowest temperature and abundances) are not. These low massgroups may be important contributors of metals to the intergalactic medium. Wepropose to use the excellent spatial and spectral capabilities of XMM todetermine the enrichement history of the hot gas and thus infer the amount ofmaterial which may have been ejected from poor groups and thus enriching the IGM
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2001-03-16T05:04:05Z/2002-04-01T07:34:10Z
Version
17.56_20190403_1200
Mission Description
The European Space Agencys (ESA) X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) was launched by an Ariane 504 on December 10th 1999. XMM-Newton is ESAs second cornerstone of the Horizon 2000 Science Programme. It carries 3 high throughput X-ray telescopes with an unprecedented effective area, and an optical monitor, the first flown on a X-ray observatory. The large collecting area and ability to make long uninterrupted exposures provide highly sensitive observations. Since Earths atmosphere blocks out all X-rays, only a telescope in space can detect and study celestial X-ray sources. The XMM-Newton mission is helping scientists to solve a number of cosmic mysteries, ranging from the enigmatic black holes to the origins of the Universe itself. Observing time on XMM-Newton is being made available to the scientific community, applying for observational periods on a competitive basis.
European Space Agency, Dr David Davis, 2003, 'XMM Observations of Low Mass Groups', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-1o1blgf
