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Early Images From XMM-Newton Telescope on 1st Birthday
By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
posted: 08:27 am ET
12 December 2000
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xmm_newton_001211 One year after its launch, the orbiting XMM-Newton telescope is impressing scientists with its ability to provide insights into black holes, exploding stars and the composition of nearly invisible stuff lurking between galaxies. Researchers gathered in Paris last week to present some of the observatory's early findings.The orbiting telescope has detected hundreds of new X-ray sources and is shedding light on how things are built and what goes on in the high-energy universe that can't be observed with normal telescopes, scientists reported. More than 50 scientific papers detailing the findings will be published in upcoming issues of the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. Most of the raw data and imagery still has to be analyzed, researchers said, but some patterns are beginning to emerge. Background radiation One of the XMM's tasks is to explore the mystery of X-ray background emissions -- a diffuse X-ray glow that seems to permeate the universe -- and researchers reported they are making progress. "The observatory is gathering all the pieces of the puzzle," said Günther Hasinger of the Astrophysics Institute in Potsdam, Germany. "We now know that 80 to 90 percent of this diffuse X-ray glow stems from very many X-ray point sources which XMM-Newton has detected." | About XMM | | Launched from French Guiana on December 10, 1999, the XMM-Newton is touted as the most powerful X-ray telescope orbiting Earth. XMM studies the X-ray spectrum of light, looking far away (and therefore back in time) at hot objects created when the universe was young.XMM's capabilities are similar to the Chandra X-ray Observatory, but XMM (X-rayMulti-Mirror) can see further back in time, though it lacks Chandra's crisp focus. | XMM has found more than 200 new objects that contribute to this X-ray background, scientists said. Many were found in one region of space called the Lockman Hole (see click-to-enlarge image), where observation of the early universe is made possible by the relative absence of intervening gas, dust and stars that would otherwise obscure the view. (Other researchers say they've already solved the X-ray background-radiation mystery, using the Chandra X-ray Observatory.)Supernovae carcasses The XMM is beginning to churn out many other images and data. Views of the supernova remnant N132D, the remains of an exploded star, show the distribution and quantities of nine different elements, including oxygen and iron (see click-to-enlarge image). The observations are expected to help scientists learn about the mass and type of a star that exploded and about subsequent phenomena that occur as the explosion rips through interstellar space."XMM-Newton has shown its great capability to unravel the composition of the interstellar matter in such remnants," said Johan Bleeker of the Space Research Organization of the Netherlands. "This is the material that contributes to the formation of new solar systems and planets." The supernova remnant N132D is in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a nearby galaxy. ( See a Chandra Telescope image of the Small Magellanic Cloud.)Hot gas The observatory has also studied the multimillion-degree temperature of gas found between galaxies in galaxy clusters -- the largest groupings of objects in the universe."The extremely detailed study of the thermal environment, for example of the Coma cluster, is one of XMM-Newton's great achievements" explained Günther Hasinger. "And the X-rays we detect from the heart of such clusters is like an ultimate cry of help before matter is swallowed by a black hole." Engineers say the observatory's instruments are functioning as planned, except for one setback. The electronics in one of 18 CCD (charge-coupled device) detector chips, the electronic sensors that record data and images, has failed. The problem is expected to be managed without a decrease in performance by using backup systems, said project scientist Fred Jansen. Click here for more news and information about deep space objects.
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