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Cosmic Vision

Past Missions\r\n\r\n
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OPERATIONS

LAUNCH

IMPLEMENTATION

DEFINITION

ASSESSMENT

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\r\nRosetta [2004]
\r\nDouble Star [2003]
\r\nSMART-1 [2003]
Mars Express [2003]
INTEGRAL [2002]
\r\nCluster [2000]
\r\nXMM-Newton [1999]
\r\nCassini-Huygens [1997]
\r\nSOHO [1995]
\r\nHubble [1990]
\r\nUlysses [1990]\r\n\r\n
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Venus Express [2005]

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\r\nCOROT [2006]
\r\nHerschel [2007]
\r\nPlanck [2007]
\r\nLISA-Pathfinder [2008]\r\n
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\r\nBepiColombo
\r\nGaia
JWST
\r\nLISA\r\n\r\n\r\n
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\r\nDarwin
\r\nHyper
\r\n\r\nSolar Orbiter
\r\nXEUS\r\n
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\r\n\r\n\r\nISO [1995]
\r\nHipparcos [1989]
\r\nGiotto [1985]
\r\nExosat [1983]
\r\nIUE [1978]
\r\nCOS-B [1975]\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Selection Process of a Science Mission

CLOSE WINDOW

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The Galactic Centre Region

14 Sep 2005
In an article to be published in the
Astrophysical Journal, Bélanger et al. present the results of
a detailed analysis of approximately 1900 hours of
observations of the galactic centre, obtained with Integral
since the launch of the spacecraft in October 2002.

The IBIS/ISGRI imager on the Integral observatory detected
for the first time a hard X-ray source, IGRJ17456–2901,
located within 1 arcminute of Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*
- the black hole residing at the centre of our Galaxy)
over the energy range 20–100 keV.

Two years and an effective exposure of 4.7×106 s
have allowed for obtaining more stringent positional
constraints on this high-energy source and the construction of
its spectrum in the energy range 20–400 keV.

This central source near Sgr A* appears not te be
a point source as previously thought, but likely is a
diffuse, but compact, source. The observations by Bélanger et
al. also show that the source is faint, but persistent with no
detected variability.

The galactic centre as observed with
IBIS/ISGRI onboard INTEGRAL. The image covers a region
of about 2.5° x 1.5°. Credits: G. Bélanger (CEA
Saclay) et al.

By combining the ISGRI spectrum together with the total
X-ray spectrum corresponding to the same physical region
around Sgr A* from XMM-Newton data, and collected during part
of the gamma-ray observations, Bélanger et al. have also
constructed the first accurate wide band high-energy spectrum
for the central arcminutes of the Galaxy. These findings are
also presented in the upcoming publication (see also 'Bélanger
et al. 2005').

____________________________________
Last
Update: 14 Sep 2005

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The Galactic Centre Region

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Bélanger
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