The LMC hosts the giant HII region 30 Doradus and the very massive stellarcluster R136. Observations suggest that a collision of large HI structures hastriggered the formation of R136. The ROSAT LMC survey revealed a large diffusestructure extending from 30 Dor to the south, called the X-ray spur, which fillsabout 1/20 of the LMC and emits soft thermal X-rays. It seems to be locatedbetween the colliding HI gas, with the western edge coinciding with the locationwhere the HI components meet. We propose observations of the X-ray spur withXMM-Newton to study the hot plasma with the aim to understand whether collidinglarge gas structures can trigger the formation of very massive stars and theheating of such a large part of the ISM.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2018-10-27T10:10:09Z/2018-10-28T01:06:49Z
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, Prof Manami Sasaki, 2019, 'X-ray Spur in the Large Magellanic Cloud', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-h5avstz
