A candidate accreting black hole (BH) with M_BH virgul 10^6 M_sun has recently beenidentified in the local dwarf starburst galaxy Henize 2-10. This discoveryraises the possibility of an entirely new environment for such black holes andhas important implications for the overall population of massive BHs and theprocesses by which seed BHs formed and grew in the early Universe. The hardX-ray nucleus of He 2-10 was detected with Chandra in 2001, but its variabilityproperties are completely unknown and its hard X-ray spectrum is not wellcharacterized. We propose a 25 ks XMM exposure to search for variability and foran improved measurement of the X-ray spectrum, in order to test the hypothesisthat it is an accreting BH and place some constraints on its mass.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2011-05-11T06:12:21Z/2011-05-11T13:41:01Z
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 Ryan Hickox, 2012, 'A candidate intermediate-mass black hole in the dwarf starburst galaxy He 2-10', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-6pxwyt7
