Name | 040695 |
Title | Comet SW3 and XMM-Newton: an extremely close encounter with a flying laboratory |
URL | https://nxsa.esac.esa.int/nxsa-sl/servlet/data-action-aio?obsno=0406950201 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-7hc9yzb |
Author | Dr Konrad Dennerl |
Description | Collisions between stellar winds and their gaseous environments play an important role in many areas of astrophysics. We propose to utilize XMM-Newton to study the X-ray aurora produced by the collision of the solar wind with the neutral coma around the largest remaining fragment of comet SW3. Its extremely close encounter in May 2006 provides the opportunity to spatially resolve the deceleration and depletion of the solar wind ions in the coma. In combination with laboratory atomic data, this provides a quantitative handle on the conditions throughout the interaction zone, which will greatly improve our understanding of the interaction of the solar wind with solar system objects and in more general, of physical processes in wind-environment collisions. |
Publication | No observations found associated with the current proposal |
Instrument | EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2 |
Temporal Coverage | 2006-05-13T22:31:31Z/2006-05-14T10:14:45Z |
Version | 17.56_20190403_1200 |
Mission Description | The European Space Agency's (ESA) X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) was launched by an Ariane 504 on December 10th 1999. XMM-Newton is ESA's 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 Earth's 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. |
Creator Contact | https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/xmm-newton-helpdesk |
Date Published | 2007-07-11T00:00:00Z |
Publisher And Registrant | European Space Agency |
Credit Guidelines | European Space Agency, Dr Konrad Dennerl, 2007, 040695, 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-7hc9yzb |