Close

Create a link to this page

Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O80-Xraysource.html" title="Facts and informations about X-ray source">X-ray source</a>

X-ray source

X-ray source A celestial object in which high-energy processes such as accretion on to a compact object, the shock wave from a supernova, a stellar wind, or the hot gas in stellar coronae give rise to detectable X-ray emission. The first X-ray sources to be discovered were mostly objects such as X-ray binaries. Subsequently, supernova remnants, active galactic nuclei, and hot white dwarfs were also found to be X-ray sources. Higher-sensitivity missions such as Rosat have revealed that most objects are X-ray sources at some level. Currently, more than 60 000 X-ray sources are known, most discovered by Rosat.

Related entries from encyclopedias, dictionaries, and thesauruses

	X-ray astronomy Book article from: A Dictionary of Astronomy ...experiment. The first celestial X-ray source, Scorpius X-1 , was detected in...extended the catalogues of known X-ray sources and monitored their variability...Ginga improved spectral studies of X-ray sources. In 1987 the Roentgen Observatory... Read more
	Astronomy: Radio, X-ray, and Infrared Book article from: American Decades ...New Mexico on 18-19 June. It detected a strong X-ray source in Scorpius. The X-ray source in Scorpius had no visible light source to correspond...detectors toward the Sun, which, while not a strong X-ray source, does emit some X-rays. The Development of ... Read more
	X-ray transient Book article from: A Dictionary of Astronomy X-ray transient A burst of X-ray emission that, after rising to a maximum brightness...stellar flares, and active galactic nuclei. Many sources originally detected as transients have subsequently been found to be weak quiescent X-ray sources. Read more
	Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer Book article from: A Dictionary of Astronomy Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer ( RXTE ) A NASA satellite launched in 1995December...uses its Proportional Counter Array ( PCA ) and High Energy X-ray Timing Experiment ( HEXTE ) to study the variability of the thousand or so brightest X-ray sources at time-scales down to ... Read more
	alpha—proton—X-ray spectrometer Book article from: A Dictionary of Earth Sciences alpha—proton—X-ray spectrometer (APXS) A set of instruments carried on Russian...materials. The sensor head of the instrument contains curium, as a source of alpha particles, an alpha particle detector, a proton detector, and an X-ray detector. The head is placed in contact with ... Read more

See all related entries