ESA - Space Science - Integral expands our view of the gamma-ray sky

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Integral expands our view of the gamma-ray sky

20 February 2007

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The upper image shows the sky distribution of four of the main soft gamma-ray source populations observed in the third Integral/IBIS survey catalogue. This newly-released catalogue contains 421 sources. Of the known systems, the low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXB) are old systems mainly populating the galactic bulge, the high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXB) are younger systems seen along the galactic plane, and the active galactic nuclei (AGN) are extragalactic sources seen over the whole sky. Around one out of four of the sources seen by Integral are unidentified, and their distribution is also shown.

The lower picture is a false colour image of the central region of our galaxy. This is a composite image based on all-sky IBIS/ISGRI maps in three energy windows (between 17 and 100 keV) and represents the true 'X-ray colours' of the sources. Red sources are dominated by emission below 30 keV, while blue sources have harder spectra, emitting strongly above 40 keV.

Credits: IBIS survey team

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The task of Integral, ESA's International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory, is to gather the most energetic radiation that comes from space. The spacecraft was launched in October 2002 and it is helping to solve some of the biggest mysteries in astronomy. Gamma rays are even more powerful than the X-rays used in medical examinations. Fortunately, Earth's atmosphere acts as a shield to protect us from this dangerous cosmic radiation. However this means that gamma rays from space can only be detected by satellites. Integral is the most sensitive gamma-ray observatory ever launched. It detects radiation from the most violent events far away and from processes that made the Universe habitable.

Credits: ESA - AOES Medialab

ESA's gamma-ray astronomy mission

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