XMM-Newton News Archive - Year 2018
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12-Dec-2018:
Budding scientists to reach for the stars at the European Space Agency
The Irish Research Council has announced today that two Irish scientists have won a national competition to train at the European Space Agency (ESA).
Further details on the Irish Research Council web page.
11-Dec-2018:
Prof. Riccardo Giacconi (1931 - 2018)
It is with great regret that we have learned of the passing of Prof Riccardo Giacconi on Sunday 9 December. Giacconi received the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physics for his pioneering work in X-ray astronomy and XMM-Newton science and discoveries are part of his legacy to X-ray astronomy.
The XMM-Newton community will always be thankful to Giacconi for his extensive contributions.
Further details on our XMM-Newton SOC portal.
21-Nov-2018:
From Gamma Rays to X-rays: new method pinpoints previously unnoticed pulsar emission
Based on a new theoretical model, a team of scientists explored the rich data archive of ESA's XMM-Newton and NASA's Chandra space observatories to find pulsating X-ray emission from three sources.
Further details on ESA's Science & Technology portal.
30-Oct-2018:
International Team of Researchers Uses the Large Millimeter Telescope to Observe a Powerful Molecular Wind in an Active Spiral Galaxy
An international team of astrophysicists using the Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) in central Mexico has detected an unexpected and powerful outflow of molecular gas in a distant active galaxy similar to the Milky Way.
Further details on the University of Massachusetts Amherst portal.
29-Oct-2018:
Ancient cold front in Perseus
A gigantic cold front in the Perseus galaxy cluster has been observed by a trio of X-ray telescopes: NASA's Chandra X-Ray observatory, ESA's XMM-Newton and the German Aerospace Centre-led ROSAT satellite.
Further details on ESA's Space in Images portal.
12-Oct-2018:
History of X-ray Astronomy in Europe: From EXOSAT to Athena
The history of X-ray astronomy spans no more than a few decades. Observations in this part of the spectrum had to await the 'space era', with rocket launchers that could carry X-ray telescopes above the Earth's atmosphere, opaque to this type of radiation.
Further details on ESA's Science & Technology portal.
08-Oct-2018:
Hot X-ray glow from massive cluster of galaxies
Astronomers using ESA’s XMM-Newton space observatory have captured the X-ray glow (shown here in purple) emitted by the hot gas that pervades the galaxy cluster XLSSC006.
Further details on ESA's Space in Images portal.
04-Oct-2018:
Tracing the Universe: X-ray survey Supports standard cosmological model
Scanning the sky for X-ray sources, ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray observatory has been busy with the XXL Survey, its largest observational programme to date. The second batch of data from the survey has just been released.
Further details on ESA's Science & Technology portal.
24-Sep-2018:
Matter falling into a black hole at 30 percent of the speed of light
A UK team of astronomers report the first detection of matter falling into a black hole at 30% of the speed of light, located in the centre of the billion-light year distant galaxy PG211+143. The team used data from the European Space Agency’s X-ray observatory XMM-Newton to observe the black hole.
Further details on the Royal Astronomical Society web portal.
21-Aug-2018:
XMM-Newton 18th Announcement of Opportunity (AO-18)
The XMM-Newton Eighteenth Announcement of Opportunity is now open and observing proposals may be submitted.
The deadline is 5 October 2018, 12:00 UT
Further details here on our XMM-Newton SOC website.
10-Aug-2018:
Students digging into data archive spot mysterious X-ray source
An enigmatic X-ray source revealed as part of a data-mining project for high-school students shows unexplored avenues hidden in the vast archive of ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray Observatory.
Further details on ESA's Space Science portal.
05-Jul-2018:
New horizons in conference facilities for XMM-Newton
XMM-Newton are leading the way in future ways of working, by having introduced a childcare facility option at their international scientific workshop that took place 13-15 June at ESAC.
Further details on our XMM-Newton SOC pages.
20-Jun-2018:
XMM-Newton finds missing intergalactic material
After a nearly twenty-year long game of cosmic hide-and-seek, astronomers using ESA's XMM-Newton space observatory have finally found evidence of hot, diffuse gas permeating the cosmos, closing a puzzling gap in the overall budget of 'normal' matter in the Universe.
Further details on ESA's Space Science portal.
18-Jun-2018:
Star Shredded by Rare Breed of Black Hole
ESA's XMM-Newton observatory has discovered the best-ever candidate for a very rare and elusive type of cosmic phenomenon: a medium-weight black hole in the process of tearing apart and feasting on a nearby star.
Further details on ESA's Space Science portal.
11-Jun-2018:
Star-circling bubble of gas
This turbulent celestial palette of purple and yellow shows a bubble of gas named NGC 3199, blown by a star known as WR18 (Wolf-Rayet 18). The image was taken by the European Photon Imaging Camera (EPIC) on ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray space observatory, and marks different patches of gas in different colours.
Further details on ESA's Space in Images portal.
31-May-2018:
Cosmic Blast Takes Rest at Last
Last year, the first detection of gravitational waves linked to a gamma-ray burst triggered a vast follow-up campaign to study the aftermath of the neutron star merger that gave rise to the explosion. ESA's XMM-Newton observations, caught the moment when its X-ray emission stopped increasing...
Further details on ESA's Science and Technology portal.
23-May-2018:
Mysterious Medium-Size Black Holes May Lurk at the Centers of Small Galaxies
The hearts of small galaxies may hide a mysterious kind of black hole that has long proved elusive: medium-size black holes. Investigators searched data from the Chandra, XMM-Newton and Swift orbital X-ray observatories.
Further details on Space.com portal.
18-Apr-2018:
Where is the Universe’s missing matter?
Astronomers using ESA's XMM-Newton space observatory have probed the gas-filled haloes around galaxies in a quest to find 'missing' matter thought to reside there, but have come up empty-handed - so where is it?
Further details on ESA's Space Science portal.
03-Apr-2018:
Perseus cluster: Scientists surprised by relentless cosmic cold front
A gigantic and resilient "cold front" hurtling through the Perseus galaxy cluster has been studied using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory - for regions close to the center of the cluster - along with data from ESA's XMM-Newton and the now-defunct German Roentgen (ROSAT) satellite for regions farther out.
Further details on Phys.org pages.
19-Mar-2018:
Crab Nebula in ultraviolet
The Crab Nebula is a supernova remnant some 6500 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Taurus. The image shown here is in ultraviolet light taken by ESA’s XMM-Newton telescope, which has been surveying the sky since 2000.
Further details on ESA's Space in Images portal.
26-Feb-2018:
XMM-Newton spies first clear X-ray flares from massive stellar lighthouse
In 2014, ESA's XMM-Newton spotted X-rays emanating from the massive star Rho Ophiuchi A and, last year, found these to ebb and flow periodically in the form of intense flares – both unexpected results.
Further details on ESA's Science & Technology pages.
02-Feb-2018:
Stellar winds behaving unexpectedly
ESA's XMM-Newton has spotted surprising changes in the powerful streams of gas from two massive stars, suggesting that colliding stellar winds don't behave as expected.
Further details on ESA's Space Science web portal.
