The Cartwheel, archetypical ring galaxy with strong star formation activityconcentrated in a peculiar annular structure, is the ideal target to study thestarburst phenomenon in a clean environment, not contaminated by other galacticcomponents. With the ROSAT/HRI and CHANDRA we see emission from the ring,associated with the most active HII regions, extending to this spectaculargalaxy the strong connection between star formation activity and emission athigh energies. With XMM we want to study the spectra of the brightest isolatedknots. We expect a combination of hard binary sources and soft gaseous emissionthrough the star-forming clumps. We will also confirm the presence and establishthe characteristics of the diffuse emission inside the ring.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2004-12-14T20:15:02Z/2005-05-22T03:56:42Z
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.
