SUMMARY OF SEQUENCE NUMBER 400072
SUMMARY OF SEQUENCE NUMBER 400072
Title: HIGH RESOLUTION SPECTROSCOPY OF THE STELLAR WIND IN CENTAURUS X-3
Observer: LIEDAHL
Subject Category: BH and NS Binaries
Seq: 400072 ObsId: 00705
Long-term Plan bin: 1-Mar-2000
ABSTRACT
The HMXB Cen X-3 is an eclipsing X-ray pulsar with an O-star companion. It is the brightest X-ray source in its class. Spectroscopically, the phase-averaged spectrum is a complex superposition of a bright continuum, disk-reprocessed emission, and lines from a photoionized wind. The presence of an accretion disk renders Cen X-3 overluminous relative to Bondi-Hoyle wind accretion, resulting in a very high level of ionization in the wind. We propose to observe Cen X-3 during eclipse with the HETG, which will allow us to spectrally isolate the wind, focusing on its ionization, emission measure distribution, and velocity structure. To accomplish this, we have developed an X-ray spectral model that has been successfully applied to ASCA spectra of other wind-dominated sources.
TARGET SUMMARY
| TARGET NAME |
RA | DEC |
TIME |
SI |
GRAT |
TYPE |
TC |
ROLL |
PRE |
PHASE |
MULTI |
PRI |
| CEN X-3 |
170.313333 | -60.623333 |
40.00000 |
ACIS-S |
HETG |
GO |
yes |
no |
no |
yes |
no |
5 |
IMAGES
(NOTE: RASS images currently only available for targets LTS scheduled on or after Apr-09-2000)
PARAMETERS
Obscat Parameters
