The galaxy NGC 3599 is the closest and most recent candidate for the tidaldisruption of a star by a supermassive black hole. It was discovered to be verysoft in the XMM-Newton Slew Survey and follow-up observations have shown thespectrum hardening while the light curve decays with a t ^{-5/3} law. Wepropose to observe NGC 3599 with the XMM-Newton EPIC cameras for 40 ks, takingadvantage of their excellent throughput and good spectral resolution, to furtherquantify the spectral evolution of the source and achieve a high significancepoint on the light curve.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2008-12-02T11:27:05Z/2008-12-02T23:34:03Z
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 Pilar Esquej, 2010, 'XMM-Newton follow-up observation of the nearest tidal disruption event', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-9e588xd
