At high galactic latitudes the distant soft X-ray background is dominated byextragalactic sources and emission from the hot galactic halo. Results fromROSAT Survey observations revealed that molecular clouds at high latitudes castdeep shadows on distant components. Observations of the absorption gradients atthe edges of these clouds enable us to disentangle the halo emission from theforeground contribution of the Local Bubble. Our main goal is to establish athermal nature of (part of) the distant emission. Once we have separated thehalo spectrum from the other components along the lines of sight we willperform a detailed spectral analysis of the emission line features expectedin the energy range between 0.3-1.5 keV.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2000-07-03T12:05:20Z/2001-07-02T15:24:52Z
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 Bernd Aschenbach, 2002, 'Probing the Galactic Halo using X-ray shadows at high galactic latitudes', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-65dt3wu
