Following a series of remarkable recent discoveries, we now know thatsome of the most luminous members of the ultraluminous X-ray source(ULX) population are actually powered by highly super-Eddington pulsars(i.e. neutron stars), making them the most extreme sustained accretorsknown. Six such systems are now known, but NGC5907 ULX1 stands out asthe most luminous, peaking at Lx virgul 1e41 erg/s. Here we propose a pair ofsimultaneous NuSTAR+XMM observations of NGC5907 ULX1. These will allowus to continue to track the long-term evolution of the neutron star spin,help investigate why the pulsations are transient in some ULX pulsars, andexplore the nature of the long-term 78d X-ray period present in this system.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2022-10-27T07:54:51Z/2022-11-07T16:28:10Z
Version
20.09_20221024_1724
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 Dominic Walton, 2023, 'MULTI-EPOCH BROADBAND MONITORING OF NGC5907 ULX1', 20.09_20221024_1724, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.57780/esa-p31uxna
