A substantial fraction of barred spiral galaxies exhibit enhanced star formationactivity in their central regions. Highly obscured AGN are also foundpreferentially within strongly barred galaxies, whereas less obscured AGN arelocated in hosts with weak bars/no bar. The apparent link between star-formationand AGN activity in barred galaxies is poorly studied at X-ray energies. Wepropose XMM EPIC observations of the barred spiral galaxies NGC 1672 & NGC 4303,both of which show X-ray emission in their nuclei and bars. Our goal is toutilize the superb spectral capabilities of XMM-Newton to study the nature ofthe bar sources and to search for direct evidence of AGN activity in the hardX-ray spectra, enabling us to investigate the relationship between them.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2004-07-02T08:58:02Z/2004-07-02T21:14:55Z
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, Ms LEIGH JENKINS, 2005, 'PROBING THE LINK BETWEEN GALACTIC BARS AND STARBURST/AGN ACTIVITY', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-mu9vxpk
