Magnetars are a small class of neutron stars mainly powered by their hugemagnetic fields. They go through long stretches of quiescence, interrupted byperiods of activity, via large flares and yearly-timescale X-ray outbursts.Magnetar activity has been recently observed also in other pulsar classes.Observations performed during, and immediately after such periods yield thelargest amount of information on this magnetic emission, allowing one to testthe theoretical models on a variety of phenomena and source states. We propose aJoint XMM (85ks) and NuSTAR (170ks) ToO program (1 trigger of 4 observationsover a few months) aimed at gathering new physical insight on the crust andfield configuration of sources showing magnetar outbursts.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2020-03-15T06:51:50Z/2020-10-09T00:58:48Z
Version
18.02_20200221_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 Nanda Rea, 2021, 'Prompt XMM-Newton and NuSTAR study of magnetar outbursts', 18.02_20200221_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.57780/esa-ye4d418
