| Name | 040021 |
| Title | Observing the X-ray light echo from the giant flare of Cas A.s point source |
| URL | https://nxsa.esac.esa.int/nxsa-sl/servlet/data-action-aio?obsno=0400210101 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-xytcrs6 |
| Author | Dr Jacco Vink |
| Description | One of the most interesting discoveries of the Spitzer telescope is the existence of a dust clouds near the supernova remnant Cas A that appear to move with a velocity close to the speed of light. The likely explanation is that these dust clouds are not moving, but that a very luminous light flash is briefly lighting up high density dust clouds. The probable origin of the light flash is a giant flare from the central point source of Cas A, similar to flare from soft gamma ray repeaters. We propose to obtain X-ray images of the dust clouds to look for Fe-K fluorescence emission at 6.4virgulkeV, which would establish that the origin of the infrared emission is indeed a bright X-ray flare. This in turn would establish that the point source is a magnetar. |
| Publication | No observations found associated with the current proposal |
| Instrument | EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2 |
| Temporal Coverage | 2006-06-18T15:37:20Z/2006-06-19T12:42:37Z |
| Version | 17.56_20190403_1200 |
| Mission Description | The European Space Agency's (ESA) X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) was launched by an Ariane 504 on December 10th 1999. XMM-Newton is ESA's 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 Earth's 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. |
| Creator Contact | https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/xmm-newton-helpdesk |
| Date Published | 2007-07-05T00:00:00Z |
| Publisher And Registrant | European Space Agency |
| Credit Guidelines | European Space Agency, 2007-07-05T00:00:00Z, 040021, 17.56_20190403_1200. https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-xytcrs6 |