Supermassive black holes lie at the heart of many large galaxies, however, veryfew massive black holes have been found in low mass dwarf galaxies, which areexpected to contain intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) with masses in therange between 100 and 100,000 solar masses. We have identified an X-ray sourcenear the centre of the dwarf galaxy NGC 4490 that is a candidate IMBH. Werequest an XMM-Newton observation to determine the slope of its spectrum and itsX-ray luminosity. We plan to coordinate this observation with an EVN one todetect the radio counterpart and determine its luminosity in the radio band.Using the radio and the X-ray luminosity we will apply the fundamental plane ofaccreting black holes to estimate the black hole mass and test our hypothesis that it is an IMBH.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2015-06-12T07:38:00Z/2015-06-12T11:48:00Z
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, Ms Aina Musaeva, 2016, 'Constraining the mass of an intermediate mass black hole candidate in NGC 4490', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-v30e73i
