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| ESA science missions continue in overtime |
| ESA has extended the productive lives of 10 of its operating space science missions. This decision secures funding for ESA's world-class science missions until at least the end of 2014, and provides a framework for planning until end of 2016. |
| Date: 20 Jun 2013 |
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| Black hole wakes up and has a light snack |
| Astronomers have watched as a black hole woke up from a decades-long slumber to feed on a low-mass object - either a brown dwarf or a giant planet - that strayed too close. A similar feeding event, albeit on a gas cloud, will soon happen at the black hole at the centre of our own Milky Way Galaxy. |
| Date: 02 Apr 2013 |
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| High mass X-ray binaries trace the Milky Way's spiral arms |
| Our Galaxy is littered with pairs of massive stars, many of which contain the remnants of supernova explosions. A new study of these X-ray emitting binary systems, using data from ESA's INTEGRAL space observatory, has made it possible to reconstruct the locations of the Milky Way's spiral arms many millions of years ago. |
| Date: 04 Mar 2013 |
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| Astronomers develop new method to determine neutron star mass |
| Astronomers have used INTEGRAL and XMM-Newton to look into the neutron star in IGR J17252-3616, a highly obscured X-ray binary system. The data show how the neutron star, which is being fuelled by the stellar wind from its companion, is substantially deflecting the flow of the accreted material. Comparison with numerical simulations provides an estimate of the neutron star's mass, suggesting a new method to determine the mass of these extremely dense, exotic objects. |
| Date: 09 Nov 2012 |
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| INTEGRAL celebrates a decade of discoveries |
| ESA's INTEGRAL mission is celebrating the tenth anniversary of its launch, which took place on 17 October 2002. Over the past decade, the mission has observed the entire sky at hard X-ray and soft gamma-ray energies with unprecedented sensitivity and resolution, shedding new light on several classes of astronomical sources, galactic and extragalactic alike. Highlights of the mission so far have included the study of the emission from electron-positron annihilation across the sky, the discovery of two previously unknown classes of X-ray binaries, the characterisation of the cosmic X-ray background and the first detection of polarisation in gamma-ray sources. |
| Date: 17 Oct 2012 |
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| INTEGRAL finds titanium in supernova remnant 1987A |
| Astronomers using INTEGRAL have detected the first direct signature of titanium-44 in the remnant of the nearby supernova 1987A. The discovery reveals a large amount of this key isotope in the remnant, equivalent to 0.03 per cent the mass of the Sun. This value is close to upper bounds from theoretical predictions and exceeds the amount of titanium-44 observed in Cassiopeia A - the only other supernova remnant where this isotope has been found. The amount of titanium-44 found in SNR 1987A demonstrates that its radioactive decay has been powering the source for the past 22 years. |
| Date: 17 Oct 2012 |
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| Massive glitch moves magnetar modelling forward |
| The chance discovery with ESA's INTEGRAL observatory, in 2004, of highly energetic X-rays emanating from a young neutron star with an extremely strong magnetic field, provided scientists with a challenge: to explain how these objects, also known as magnetars, produce such energetic non-thermal radiation. A new, comprehensive study of one particular magnetar, that was observed by several observatories over a period of 27 months, may provide the key to homing in on the processes at play in the extreme environments of these exotic stars. |
| Date: 12 Apr 2012 |
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| INTEGRAL Announcement of Opportunity (AO-10) |
| Proposals are solicited for observations with INTEGRAL in response to the Tenth Announcement of Opportunity, AO-10, issued 12 March 2012. This AO covers the period January 2013 to December 2013 and is open to all proposers. |
| Date: 14 Mar 2012 |
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| INTEGRAL reveals new facets of the Vela pulsar wind nebula |
| Astronomers studying the Vela pulsar wind nebula with ESA's INTEGRAL observatory have successfully resolved its morphology in the hard X-ray band, for the first time. This pulsar-powered nebula is the most extended individual source yet observed at these energies. The study exploited a special imaging technique to reveal a new component of the source that likely consists of highly energetic electrons that have escaped from the core of the nebula in the last few thousand years. |
| Date: 25 Jan 2012 |
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| INTEGRAL deciphers diffuse signature of cosmic-ray electrons |
| Astronomers exploiting six years worth of data from ESA's INTEGRAL mission have pinned down the individual processes contributing to the high-energy Galactic interstellar emission produced by cosmic-ray electrons. Deciphering each of the different physical mechanisms at play at hard X-ray and soft gamma-ray wavelengths represents a crucial step towards an increasingly detailed picture of the population of high-energy particles permeating the Milky Way. |
| Date: 21 Dec 2011 |
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| INTEGRAL observations suggest unified model for AGN requires a rethink |
| Scrutinising a large sample of Active Galactic Nuclei with INTEGRAL, astronomers have found that, unexpectedly, sources affected by stronger absorption at lower energies show an excess emission in the hard X-ray band when compared to their less obscured counterparts. The excess is likely due to reflection of X-rays off the same dense clouds responsible for absorption. Unaccounted for in the unified paradigm of Active Galactic Nuclei, the finding calls for a rethinking of some of this model's facets. The reflected radiation could also represent the long-sought missing part of the Cosmic X-ray Background. |
| Date: 02 Aug 2011 |
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| INTEGRAL challenges physics beyond Einstein |
| ESA's INTEGRAL gamma-ray observatory has provided results that will dramatically affect the search for physics beyond Einstein. It has shown that any underlying quantum 'graininess' of space must be at much smaller scales than previously predicted. |
| Date: 30 Jun 2011 |
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| INTEGRAL discovers gamma rays originating from black hole jets |
| Can the powerful jets originating from the vicinity of black holes emit gamma rays? ESA's INTEGRAL observatory has shown that they can. An extensive study of Cygnus X-1, a binary system that hosts a black hole, has revealed polarized gamma-ray emission from this source, and shown that this high-energy emission originates from the jets that were originally detected in the radio band. This first discovery of polarized gamma rays from the vicinity of a black hole opens a new observational window on these enigmatic objects. The results of this study are published online today in Science Express. |
| Date: 24 Mar 2011 |
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| INTEGRAL Announcement of Opportunity (AO-9) |
| Proposals are solicited for observations with INTEGRAL in response to the Ninth Announcement of Opportunity, AO-9, issued 7 March 2011. This AO covers the period January 2012 to December 2012 and is open to all proposers. |
| Date: 07 Mar 2011 |
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| The Crab Nebula: standard candle no more? |
| Teaming up with other telescopes monitoring the Crab Nebula, ESA's INTEGRAL observatory has made a significant contribution to demonstrating that this source, previously believed to be a standard candle, might not be so reliable, after all. The small, but measurable dimming of what was until now considered to be one of the brightest and, most importantly, the steadiest source in the high-energy sky calls for a re-examination of how X-ray and gamma-ray observations are calibrated. |
| Date: 12 Jan 2011 |
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| INTEGRAL helps unravel the tumultuous recent history of the solar neighbourhood |
| Just like archaeologists, who rely on radioactive carbon to date the organic remains from past epochs, astronomers have exploited the radioactive decay of an isotope of aluminium to estimate the age of stars in the nearby Scorpius-Centaurus association, the closest group of young and massive stars to the Sun. The new observations, performed in gamma rays by ESA's INTEGRAL observatory, provide evidence for recent ejections of matter from massive stars that took place only a few million years ago in our cosmic neighbourhood. |
| Date: 26 Nov 2010 |
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| Europe maintains its presence on the final frontier |
| ESA has decided to extend the productive lives of 11 of its operating space science missions. This will enable ESA's world-class science missions to continue returning pioneering results until at least 2014. |
| Date: 22 Nov 2010 |
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| INTEGRAL AO for Obtaining Data Rights (in AO8 approved programmes) |
| Proposals are solicited for an INTEGRAL Announcement of Opportunity for obtaining data rights to targets within previously approved AO-8 observing programmes. |
| Date: 30 Aug 2010 |
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| INTEGRAL completes deepest all-sky survey in hard X-rays |
| A newly developed image analysis technique has significantly improved the sensitivity limits reached by the IBIS imager on board INTEGRAL, resulting in the deepest survey ever compiled of the entire sky in the energy range between 17 and 60 keV. Pushing the instrument towards its very limits, the novel method discloses a vast number of previously undetected faint sources, galactic and extragalactic alike. |
| Date: 11 Aug 2010 |
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| New INTEGRAL catalogue expands gamma-ray horizons |
| Astronomers have the best idea yet of how the Universe looks in gamma rays after the publication of the fourth INTEGRAL Soft Gamma-Ray Survey Catalogue. The catalogue, which has been constructed from more than 70 million seconds of observing time, now includes significantly more extragalactic sources and is set to orchestrate the future observing programmes of several ground-based and space observatories.
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| Date: 07 Jul 2010 |
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