These expansion measurements are a powerful way to probe the basic, but oftenunknown, parameters of the SNR such as age, distance and ambient medium densityin which the shock is expanding. In particular, determining the ambient densityis a crucial parameter for constraining the fraction of kinetic energytransferred to hadrons accelerated at the front shock of the SNR. In theprototypical accelerator RX J1713.7-3946, no thermal X-ray emission (from theshocked medium) has been observed and proper motion measurement is probably thebest way to constrain the ambient density.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2015-03-10T21:36:40Z/2015-03-11T20:55:00Z
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 Fabio Acero, 2016, 'Measuring the shock speed in RX J1713.7-3946', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-hzsbi3u
