GSFC: Hitomi Glimpses Cosmic 'Recipe' for the Nearby Universe

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GSFC: Hitomi Glimpses Cosmic 'Recipe' for the Nearby Universe

Post by bystander » Mon Nov 13, 2017 5:24 pm

Hitomi Glimpses Cosmic 'Recipe' for the Nearby Universe
NASA | GSFC | Hitomi (JAXA) | 2017 Nov 13
[img3="Hitomi's Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) instrument captured data from two overlapping areas of the Perseus galaxy cluster (blue outlines, upper right) in February and March 2016. The resulting spectrum has 30 times the detail of any previously captured, revealing many X-ray peaks associated with chromium, manganese, nickel and iron. Dark blue lines in the insets indicate the actual X-ray data points and their uncertainties. Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center"]https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/file ... ectrum.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]
Before its brief mission ended unexpectedly in March 2016, Japan's Hitomi X-ray observatory captured exceptional information about the motions of hot gas in the Perseus galaxy cluster. Now, thanks to unprecedented detail provided by an instrument developed jointly by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), scientists have been able to analyze more deeply the chemical make-up of this gas, providing new insights into the stellar explosions that formed most of these elements and cast them into space.

The Perseus cluster, located 240 million light-years away in its namesake constellation, is the brightest galaxy cluster in X-rays and among the most massive near Earth. It contains thousands of galaxies orbiting within a thin hot gas, all bound together by gravity. The gas averages 90 million degrees Fahrenheit (50 million degrees Celsius) and is the source of the cluster's X-ray emission.

Using Hitomi's high-resolution Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) instrument, researchers observed the cluster between Feb. 25 and March 6, 2016, acquiring a total exposure of nearly 3.4 days. The SXS observed an unprecedented spectrum, revealing a landscape of X-ray peaks emitted from various chemical elements with a resolution some 30 times better than previously seen. ...

Solar Abundance Ratios of the Iron-Peak Elements in the Perseus Cluster - Hitomi Collaboration
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