The Guitar Nebula is the archetype of pulsar bow-shock nebulae. While it isclearly seen in H-alpha, previous attempts to detect its X-ray counterpart havefailed. Only recently Chandra has detected a 2. long extended feature, whichstarts at the pulsar position. Its orientation, however, deviates by virgul118 degfrom the pulsar.s proper motion direction, calling for very peculiar physicalconditions in the ISM and the magnetic field structure in the environmentsurrounding the pulsar. In order to study this linear feature in more detailthan possible with the Chandra data we propose XMM-Newton observations.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2009-07-13T08:11:38Z/2009-07-14T05:13:34Z
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 Hui Chung Yue, 2010, 'The mysterious X-ray nebular feature associated to the Guitar Nebula', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-657lglw
