• Title/Summary/Keyword: astronomy-X-ray

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X-RAY ASTRONOMY EXPERIMENT ON THE INDIAN SATELLITE IRS-P3

  • AGRAWAL P. C.;PAUL B.;RAO A. R.;SHAH M. R.;MCKERJEE K.;VARIA M. N.;YADAV J. S.;DEDHIA D. K.;MALKAR J. P.;SHAH P.;DAMLE S. V.;MARAR T. M. K.;SEETHA S.
    • Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.29 no.spc1
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    • pp.429-432
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    • 1996
  • An x-ray astronomy experiment consisting of three collimated proportional counters and an X-ray Sky Monitor (XSM) was flown aboard the Indian Satellite IRS-P3 launched on March 21, 1996 from SHAR range in India. The Satellite is in a circular orbit of 830 km altitude with an orbital inclination of $98^{\circ}$ and has three axis stabilized pointing capability. Each pointed-mode Proportional Counter (PPC) is a multilayer, multianode unit filled with P-10 gas ($90\%$ Ar + $10\%\;CH_4$) at 800 torr and having an aluminized mylar window of 25 micron thickness. The three PPCs are identical and have a field of view of $2^{\circ}{\times}2^{\circ}$ defined by silver coated aluminium honeycomb collimators. The total effective area of the three PPCs is about 1200 $cm^2$. The PPCs are sensitive in 2-20 keV band. The XSM consists of a pin-hole of 1 $cm^2$ area placed 16 cm above the anode plane of a 32 cm$\times$32 cm position sensitive proportional counter sensitive in 3-8 keV interval. The position of the x-ray events is determined by charge division technique using nichrome wires as anodes. The principal objective of this experiment is to carry out timing studies of x-ray pulsars, x-ray binaries and other rapidly varying x-ray sources. The XSM will be used to detect transient x-ray sources and monitor intensity of bright x-ray binaries. Observations of black-hole binary Cyg X-1 and few other binary sources were carried out in early May and July-August 1996 period. Details of the x-ray detector characteristics are presented and preliminary results from the observations are discussed.

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Abell 2261: a fossil galaxy cluster in a transition phase

  • Kim, Hyowon;Ko, Jongwan;Kim, Jae-woo;Smith, Rory;Song, Hyunmi;Hwang, Ho Seong
    • The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.43 no.2
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    • pp.33.2-33.2
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    • 2018
  • Fossil galaxy cluster has a dominant central elliptical galaxy (${\Delta}M12$ >2 in 0.5Rvir) embedded in highly relaxed X-ray halo, which indicates dynamically stable and passively evolved system. These features are expected as a final stage of the cluster evolution in the hierarchical structure formation paradigm. It is known that Abell 2261(A2261 hereafter) is classified as a fossil cluster, but has unusual features such as a high central X-ray entropy (i.e., non-cool core system), which is not expected in normal fossil clusters. We perform a kinematic study with a spectroscopic data of 589 galaxies in the A2261 field. We define cluster member galaxies using the caustic method and discover a new second bright galaxy at ~1.5 Rvir (nearly the splash-back region). It implies the current fossil state of the cluster can break in the near future. In addition, with three independent substructure finding methods, we find that A2261 has many substructures within 3 Mpc from the center of the cluster. These findings support that A2261 is not in a dynamically stable state. We argue that A2261 is in a transitional phase of dynamical evolution of the galaxy cluster and maybe previously defined fossil cluster does not mean the final stage of the evolution of galaxy clusters.

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Computational Astrophysics: Connecting Laboratory Experiments to Observations

  • Kwak, Kyujin
    • The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.42 no.2
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    • pp.65.5-66
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    • 2017
  • In the history of astronomy, observed data were interpreted very frequently based upon data measured at laboratories. For example, all the spectroscopic observations were understood via spectroscopic measurements on nuclei, atoms, and molecules. Recently, computational astrophysics plays a role of bridging experimental data to observations, in particular via numerical modeling of complex astronomical phenomena. This presentation focuses on computational nuclear astrophysics that connects experimental data on nuclei to high-energy observation data obtained by X-ray and gamma-ray telescopes. As an example case, X-ray burst will be discussed. In this phenomenon, observed X-ray light curves and spectra can be modeled by stellar evolution calculations that take nuclear reactions of rare isotopes as input information. This presentation also works as an introduction to the following presentation that will provide more detailed discussion on the experimental aspect of X-ray burst.

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A SPECTROSCOPIC STUDY OF THE SEYFERT GALAXY MCG-2-58-22

  • Choi, Chul-Sung;Dotani, Tadayasu;Chang, Heon-Young
    • Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.38 no.3
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    • pp.339-344
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    • 2005
  • We present analysis results of the energy spectra of MCG-2-58-22 associated with occasional flares which appear in a long-term X-ray light curve. We measure an intrinsic power-law slope of this object to be ${\Gamma}=1.74{\pm}0.02$ in the energy range of ${\sim}1-5keV$ and find that this slope is little affected by flares. We confirm that there exists a broad excess emission above 5 keV to the power-law continuum. The excess emission is less variable compared with a flux variation of flare and tends to be relatively weak during flares. A soft X-ray spectrum is also found to change, implying the presence of a variable soft component. We discuss the implications of these spectral variations.

LONG-TERM X-RAY VARIABILITIES OF THE SEYFERT GALAXY MCG-2-58-22 : SECULAR FLUX DECREASE AND FLARES

  • CHOI CHUL-SUNG;DOTANI TADAYASU;CHANG HEON- YOUNG;YI INSU
    • Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.35 no.1
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    • pp.1-7
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    • 2002
  • We have studied the long-term X-ray light curve (2-10 keV) of the luminous Seyfert 1 galaxy MCG-2-58-22 by compiling data, from various X-ray satellites, which together cover more than 20 years. We have found two distinct types of time variations in the light curve. One is a gradual and secular decrease of the X-ray flux, and the other is the episodic increase of X-ray flux (or flare) by a factor of 2-4 compared with the level expected from the secular variation. We detected 3 such flares in total; a representative duration for the flares is $\~$2 years, with intervening quiescent intervals lasting $\~$6-8 years. We discuss a few possible origins for these variabilities. Though a standard disk instability theory may explain the displayed time variability in the X-ray light curve, the subsequent accretions of stellar debris, from a tidal disruption event caused by a supermassive black hole in MCG-2-58-22, cannot be ruled out as an alternative explanation.