Milky Way X-ray mystery solved
Physics Web, UK
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Astronomers have found evidence that the diffuse haze of X-rays that envelopes the Milky Way is produced by hundreds of millions of individual stars.
Until now, the "galactic X-ray background" was thought to be caused by clouds of hot gas in the galaxy. The discovery, made by Mikhail Revnivtsev of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Germany and colleagues, means that the Milky Way could contain many more stars than previously thought (Astronomy and Astrophysics to be published).The conventional view of the galactic X-ray background is that it is produced by clouds of gas that have been heated to extremely high temperatures by supernova explosions.
But there are problems with this picture: calculations suggest that there are not enough supernovae in our galaxy to replace the gas as it speeds out of the Milky Way. Now, however, Revnivstev and colleagues think that the X-ray glow is produced by individual stars that are not very bright and so were missed in previous searches, like those made by the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Mar 03, 2006
Physics Web, UK
____________
Astronomers have found evidence that the diffuse haze of X-rays that envelopes the Milky Way is produced by hundreds of millions of individual stars.
Until now, the "galactic X-ray background" was thought to be caused by clouds of hot gas in the galaxy. The discovery, made by Mikhail Revnivtsev of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Germany and colleagues, means that the Milky Way could contain many more stars than previously thought (Astronomy and Astrophysics to be published).The conventional view of the galactic X-ray background is that it is produced by clouds of gas that have been heated to extremely high temperatures by supernova explosions.
But there are problems with this picture: calculations suggest that there are not enough supernovae in our galaxy to replace the gas as it speeds out of the Milky Way. Now, however, Revnivstev and colleagues think that the X-ray glow is produced by individual stars that are not very bright and so were missed in previous searches, like those made by the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Mar 03, 2006
