GT - NGC 4636 is one of the brightest early-type elliptical galaxies. Studyingthe extended X-ray emission from the interstellar medium (ISM) of early-typegalaxies is an important way to understand the evolution of these galaxies. ASCAand ROSAT observations have yielded unexpected, yet sometimes controversial,sub-solar metal abundances for the ISM of these galaxies. We propose a 100 ksecobservation of NGC 4636 using the RGS as the primary instrument. It willperform high-resolution spectroscopy and determine the temperature distributionand chemical abundances of the X-ray emitting plasma. The EPICs in full windowmode with the medium filter will be used to perform spatially-resolvedspectroscopy.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2000-07-13T00:16:27Z/2001-01-06T04:38:00Z
Version
PPS_NOT_AVAILABLE
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 Albert Brinkman, 2002, 'X-ray Spectroscopy of the Early-Type Elliptical Galaxy NGC4636', PPS_NOT_AVAILABLE, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-kt89qbt
