Observations of the darkest regions in the sky: X-ray shadowing by the Bok globule Barnard 68
- Author(s)
- M. J. Freyberg, D. Breitschwerdt, J. Alves
- Abstract
The densest and closest absorbers of the soft X-ray background (SXRB) in
the Milky Way are Bok globules, located just outside the Local Bubble in
the Pipe Nebula at a distance of 125 pc. With column densities of up to
NH ˜ 1023 cm-2, they are ideal
targets for shadowing the SXRB in the energy range 0.1 - 2 keV, thus
giving important information on the spatial and spectral variation of
the foreground X-ray intensity on small scales. Preliminary analysis of
a recent XMM-Newton EPIC observation of the Bok globule Barnard 68 has
revealed a deep X-ray shadow cast by the globule. The shadow is deepest
at an energy of ˜ 800 eV. Oxygen line emission at ˜ 560 and
˜ 660 eV seems to originate at least partially in the foreground.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Astrophysics
- External organisation(s)
- Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, European Southern Observatory (Germany)
- Journal
- Memorie Societa Astronomica Italiana
- Volume
- 75
- Pages
- 509
- Publication date
- 2004
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Keywords
- Portal url
- https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/observations-of-the-darkest-regions-in-the-sky-xray-shadowing-by-the-bok-globule-barnard-68(aca46fe9-d415-4387-92ce-5df8b8715b31).html