Although most of the Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium (WHIM) has yet to be found,an extremely promising candidate for the typical WHIM gas is our detection of anOVII K-alpha absorption line located in the Sculptor Wall superstructure ofgalaxies (z virgul0.03). We propose a deep 500ks RGS observation of the Sculptor Wallabsorber that will detect the OVII K-beta line at the 4-sigma level and the OVIIK-alpha line at >5-sigma level. Not only will the existence of the K-beta lineprovide crucial objective evidence for the WHIM nature of the absorber, but theconstraints obtained on the absorber properties will be sufficiently precise todistinguish it from the type of gas found in a galaxy like the Milky Way, andfrom the high density tail of the WHIM detected in X-ray emission.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2012-11-18T21:23:19Z/2012-11-20T06:18:38Z
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 Taotao Fang, 2013, 'On the Nature of the Sculptor Wall X-ray Absorber', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-gy0jtaq
