X-ray shout echoing through space from GRB 031203
Minimum credit line: Image courtesy of Simon Vaughan (University of Leicester) and ESA. (for details, see Conditions of Use).
Credit: ESA/XMM-Newton, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
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| About this Image |
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This image and animation shows GRB 032103, observed in the X-ray by XMM-Newton's MOS cameras. On December 3rd 2003 a 30-second flash of gamma rays was detected from GRB 032103 by Integral and consequently an XMM-Newton observation of the object was performed, starting 6 hours after the burst. The image (top figure) and animation (bottom figure) depict photons detected in the 0.7 - 2.5 keV energy range. The data were divided into time steps, and the image and animation show how the appearance of the object changes with time. The two rings seen are concentric with the X-ray afterglow, and appear to expand outwards. They are caused by dust slabs between the observer and the GRB. The dust reflects photons from the afterglow into the line of sight of the observer. They appear to expand outwards because light scattered at a larger angle to the line of sight take longer to reach the observer, hence giving the appearance of an expanding circle. In fact, the apparent rate of expansion is a thousand times the speed of light. The two rings are caused by separate dust slabs at distances of 880 and 1390 parsecs. Expanding X-ray rings from scattering by dust grains have never been seen before, although slower-moving rings around supernovae have been observed.
Investigator(s): S. Vaughan, R. Willingale, P. T. O'Brien, J. P. Osborne, J. N. Reeves, A. J. Levan, M. G. Watson, J. A. Tedds, D. Watson, M. Santos-Lleo, P.M. Rodriguez-Pascual, N. Schartel
| For More Information |
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- Read the Press Release
- Read the Journal article
- Visit related website;
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=2004ApJ...605L.101W - Detailed description of this image
- Query XSA archive for XMM-Newton data in the field of GRB 031203
- Astronomical database entries for GRB 031203;
- Query NED for more images about GRB 031203
- Query SIMBAD for more GRB 031203 data
- For unfamiliar terms, visit the XMM-Newton Astronomical Glossary
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