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XIS firstlight image and spectra
Credit: Suzaku & XIS teams; JAXA; NASA


A First Light

The images above left are the first light images of the four X-ray Imaging Spectrometers (XIS0-4) on the Suzaku X-ray observatory. The images are of a supernova remnant E0102-72.3 in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Along with imaging capability, the XIS detectors also provide spectral capability using "front-side illuminated" (FI) and "back-side illuminated" (BI) detectors. The BI detectors in particular have better sensitivity to low-energy X-ray photons, as seen in the lower right image, where emission lines (as encircled by the blue line) from OVII (oxygen which has lost 6 electrons) and OVIII (oxygen which has lost 7 electrons) at about 500 eV are separated.

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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 Tuesday, 27-Feb-2024 10:13:32 EST