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Ultrasoft X-Ray Background Observations of the Local Interstellar Medium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

W.T. Sanders
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison
S.L. Snowden
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison
J.J. Bloch
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison
M. Juda
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison
K.M. Jahoda
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison
D. McCammon
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Abstract

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Preliminary results from a May 8, 1984 sounding rocket survey of the soft X-ray background are presented. The X-ray detectors are sensitive to X-rays in three soft X-ray bandpasses: 80-110 eV, 90-188 eV, and 284-532 eV (at 20% of peak response). The lowest energy X-rays in this range have a mean free path of order 1019 cm-2 and provide information about the local interstellar medium. The count rate in the 80-110 eV energy band (the Be band) tracks the 90-188 eV band (the B band) very well, indicating that the same ~1 million degree gas that is responsible for the B band emission may be responsible for the bulk of the Be band X-rays as well. We estimate for the flux in the Be band ~1 photon cm-2 s-1 sr-1 eV-1 , about a factor of four lower than that found by Stern and Bowyer (1979) and Paresce and Stern (1981) over a similar energy band.

Type
Hot Gas in the LISM: Soft X-Ray Observations
Copyright
Copyright © NASA 1984

References

McCammon, D., Burrows, D. N., Sanders, W. T., and Kraushaar, W. L. 1983, Ap. J., 269, 107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paresce, F., and Stern, R. 1981, Ap. J., 247, 89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stern, R., and Bowyer, S. 1979, Ap. J, 239, 755.Google Scholar