Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik
Deutsche Version MPE HEG X-Ray Astronomy Wave ROSAT Gallery ROSAT Calendar Images 1997
X-ray Background Emission from the Lockman Hole
To uncover the nature of the extragalactic X-ray background extremely long observations were taken in the direction of the "Lockman Hole". In the meantime the already existing PSPC observation time of 200,000 seconds was completed by HRI exposures of additional 1,000,000 seconds (about one month ROSAT time). More than 150 hitherto unknown weak X-ray sources were discovered. Because of the excellent spacial resolution of the HRI, the position of these weak sources can be given with up to now unreached accuracy. A complete sample of the new discovered X-ray sources was succesfully identified with the Keck Telescope, presently the largest optical telescope in the world. The by-far largest share of these sources are quasars and weaker Seyfert galaxies. The ROSAT data could thus give us a new understanding of the X-ray background radiation. Red colours represent the 1,000,000 second HRI data and blue to green colours the 200,000 second PSPC data, respectively.
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ROSAT (Röntgensatellit) 1997
Images from the X-ray sky with the ROSAT telescope · All rights reserved:
© Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Postfach 1603, 85740 Garching, Germany.
The X-ray images are produced by the SASS/EXSAS software MPE, ESO-MIDAS.
The ROSAT project is managed by the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR), Germany on behalf of the Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft, Forschung und Technologie (BMBF).
© X-Ray Group at MPE (group)
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