Credit: R. Landi, IASF-Bologna, INAF
A New High?
What are those mysterious high energy sources discovered by the HESS, the High Energy Stereoscopic System? These rare sources emit radiation beyond the X-ray, beyond the Gamma-Ray, into unexplored and unnamed energies above a few tera-electron volts. Observations at lower energies often fail to find suitable counterparts, though there have been some notable exceptions. One such source is called HESS J1616-508. A new image of the field of this source by the INTEGRAL/IBIS imager in the low energy gamma-ray range has found a possible counterpart to this source. The counterpart happens to be a rapidly rotating neutron star. The image above shows the IBIS map of the region, with a circle showing the region containing the HESS source. The neutron star is the bright source at the lower left edge of the HESS source circle, marked A in the image. But exactly how does this pulsar generate such high energy emission? Stay tuned.
<
HEA Dictionary * Archive
* Search HEAPOW
* Other Languages
* HEAPOW on Facebook
* Download all Images
* Education * HEAD
>
Each week the HEASARC
brings you new, exciting and beautiful images from X-ray and Gamma ray
astronomy. Check back each week and be sure to check out the HEAPOW archive!
Page Author: Dr. Michael F. Corcoran
Last modified Friday, 20-Apr-2012 15:20:51 EDT
