Between 2007 and 2015, our yearly XMM-Newton monitoring of SN1987A yielded EPICand RGS spectra of unprecedented quality. The fluxes and broadening of thenumerous emission lines provide information on the evolution of the X-rayemitting plasma and its dynamics. The soft X-ray light curve shows a mildflattening after 2006, which levelled off since 2012. To further monitor theevolution of the X-ray flux and look for the expected turn-over we propose tocontinue our monitoring. This will allow us to further study the time evolutionof the shock conditions and abundance profiles. At high energies EPIC-pn canhelp to clarify the extremely low observed Fe abundance by following theevolution of the detected Fe-K line.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2017-10-15T03:52:04Z/2017-10-16T02:13:44Z
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 Frank Haberl, 2018, 'X-ray Spectrometry of SN1987A', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-34w9syf
