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Register a new userObservations of the core of the Pleiades with the Chandra X-ray Observatory
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Added by
Christopher Reynolds
Publication date
2000
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
Authors
Anita Krishnamurthi
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We present results from a 36-ksec observation of the core of the Pleiades open cluster using ACIS-I on the Chandra X-ray Observatory. We have detected 57 sources, most of which do not have previously known optical counterparts. Follow-up photometry indicates that many of the detections are likely to be AGNs, in accordance with extragalactic source counts, but some of the sources may be previously undiscovered low-mass members of the Pleiades. We discuss our dataset and our findings about X-ray emission from early-type stars as well as very late type stars. In particular, the large X-ray fluxes, lack of variability, and hardness ratios of the four Pleiades B6 IV -- F4 V stars suggest a tentative conclusion that Pleiades stars in this spectral type range are intrinsic X-ray sources rather than previously unknown binaries in which the X-ray emission is from a late-type companion. Also the sensitivity of Chandra allowed us to detect nonflare X-ray emission from late-M stars.
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We observed the nearby, low-density globular cluster M71 (NGC 6838) with the Chandra X-ray Observatory to study its faint X-ray populations. Five X-ray sources were found inside the cluster core radius, including the known eclipsing binary millisecond pulsar (MSP) PSR J1953+1846A. The X-ray light curve of the source coincident with this MSP shows marginal evidence for periodicity at the binary period of 4.2 h. Its hard X-ray spectrum and luminosity resemble those of other eclipsing binary MSPs in 47 Tuc, suggesting a similar shock origin of the X-ray emission. A further 24 X-ray sources were found within the half-mass radius, reaching to a limiting luminosity of 1.5 10^30 erg/s (0.3-8 keV). From a radial distribution analysis, we find that 18+/-6 of these 29 sources are associated with M71, somewhat more than predicted, and that 11+/-6 are background sources, both galactic and extragalactic. M71 appears to have more X-ray sources between L_X=10^30--10^31 erg/s than expected by extrapolating from other studied clusters using either mass or collision frequency. We explore the spectra and variability of these sources, and describe the results of ground-based optical counterpart searches.
The Chandra X-ray Observatory is the X-ray component of NASAs Great Observatory Program which includes the recently launched Spitzer Infrared Telescope, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) for observations in the visible, and the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (CGRO) which, after providing years of useful data has reentered the atmosphere. All these facilities provide, or provided, scientific data to the international astronomical community in response to peer-reviewed proposals for their use. The Chandra X-ray Observatory was the result of the efforts of many academic, commercial, and government organizations primarily in the United States but also in Europe. NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) manages the Project and provides Project Science; Northrop Grumman Space Technology (NGST -- formerly TRW) served as prime contractor responsible for providing the spacecraft, the telescope, and assembling and testing the Observatory; and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) provides technical support and is responsible for ground operations including the Chandra X-ray Center (CXC). Telescope and instrument teams at SAO, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Pennsylvania State University (PSU), the Space Research Institute of the Netherlands (SRON), the Max-Planck Institut fur extraterrestrische Physik (MPE), and the University of Kiel also provide technical support to the Chandra Project. We present here a detailed description of the hardware, its on-orbit performance, and a brief overview of some of the remarkable discoveries that illustrate that performance.
I review the operational capabilities of the Chandra X-ray Observatory, including some of the spectacular results obtained by the general observer community. A natural theme of this talk is that Chandra is revealing outflows of great quantities of energy that were not previously observable. I highlight the Chandra studies of powerful X-ray jets. This subject is only possible due to the sub-arcsecond resolution of the X-ray telescope.
We determine the total enclosed mass profile from 0.7 to 35 kpc in the elliptical galaxy NGC 4636 based on the hot interstellar medium temperature profile measured using the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and other X-ray and optical data. The total mass increases as radius to the power 1.2 to a good approximation over this range in radii, attaining a total of 1.5 trillion solar masses (corresponding to a mass-to-light ratio of 40 solar masses per solar visual luminosity) at 35 kpc. We find that at least half, and as much as 80%, of the mass within the optical half-light radius is non-luminous, implying that NGC 4636 has an exceptionally low baryon fraction. The large inferred dark matter concentration and central dark matter density, consistent with the upper end of the range expected for standard cold dark matter halos, imply that mechanisms proposed to explain low dark matter densities in less massive galaxies (e.g., self-interacting dark matter, warm dark matter, explosive feedback) are not effective in elliptical galaxies (and presumably, by extension, in galaxy clusters). The composite (black hole, stars, and dark matter) mass distribution has a generally steep slope with no core, consistent with gravitational lensing studies.
Within 40 years of the detection of the first extrasolar X-ray source in 1962,NASAs Chandra X-ray Observatory has achieved an increase in sensitivity of 10 orders of magnitude, comparable to the gain in going from naked-eye observations to the most powerful optical telescopes over the past 400 years. Chandra is unique in its capabilities for producing sub-arcsecond X-ray images with 100-200 eV energy resolution for energies in the range 0.08<E<10 keV, locating X-ray sources to high precision, detecting extremely faint sources, and obtaining high resolution spectra of selected cosmic phenomena. The extended Chandra mission provides a long observing baseline with stable and well-calibrated instruments, enabling temporal studies over time-scales from milliseconds to years. In this report we present a selection of highlights that illustrate how observations using Chandra, sometimes alone, but often in conjunction with other telescopes, have deepened, and in some instances revolutionized, our understanding of topics as diverse as protoplanetary nebulae; massive stars; supernova explosions; pulsar wind nebulae; the superfluid interior of neutron stars; accretion flows around black holes; the growth of supermassive black holes and their role in the regulation of star formation and growth of galaxies; impacts of collisions, mergers, and feedback on growth and evolution of groups and clusters of galaxies; and properties of dark matter and dark energy.
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