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ESA's Integral solves 30-year old gamma-ray mystery. Regular readers will recall that we've several times discussed this gamma glow seen in the direction of the Milky Way centre; some PF members have posted links to papers which propose mechanisms for it, some have put forward their own ideas.
Well, what Integral found was that ~90% of the gammas come from discrete sources, many of which seem to also be discreet - they're not readily visible at other wavelengths, and may be a new class of astronomical object (or three).
"The first clues about a new class of gamma-ray objects came last October, when Integral discovered an intriguing gamma-ray source, known as IGRJ16318-4848. The data from Integral and ESA's other high-energy observatory XMM-Newton suggested that this object is a binary system, probably including a black hole or neutron star, embedded in a thick cocoon of cold gas and dust. When gas from the companion star is accelerated and swallowed by the black hole, energy is released at all wavelengths, mostly in the gamma rays."
Sensibly, Lebrun (lead author of a Nature paper reporting the finding of 91 'point sources') feels it's premature to say whether most, or even many, of the new sources are also BH-NS binaries in a thick cocoon of cold gas and dust.
It's also unclear, at this stage, how widespread these new point-source gamma objects are, beyong the direction to the MW centre.
Well, what Integral found was that ~90% of the gammas come from discrete sources, many of which seem to also be discreet - they're not readily visible at other wavelengths, and may be a new class of astronomical object (or three).
"The first clues about a new class of gamma-ray objects came last October, when Integral discovered an intriguing gamma-ray source, known as IGRJ16318-4848. The data from Integral and ESA's other high-energy observatory XMM-Newton suggested that this object is a binary system, probably including a black hole or neutron star, embedded in a thick cocoon of cold gas and dust. When gas from the companion star is accelerated and swallowed by the black hole, energy is released at all wavelengths, mostly in the gamma rays."
Sensibly, Lebrun (lead author of a Nature paper reporting the finding of 91 'point sources') feels it's premature to say whether most, or even many, of the new sources are also BH-NS binaries in a thick cocoon of cold gas and dust.
It's also unclear, at this stage, how widespread these new point-source gamma objects are, beyong the direction to the MW centre.
