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Evidence for X-ray emission from Kepler's supernova remnant

Abstract

THE remnant of Kepler's supernova of 1604 AD has long eluded detection at X-ray wavelengths, principally because of its proximity to a source confused region in the direction of the galactic centre. We present here the first evidence for weak soft X-ray emission from Kepler's remnant, which was beyond the capability of earlier X-ray surveys1 but is now possible because of the increased sensitivity provided by the low energy detectors (LEDs) of the A 2 experiment on the HEAO 1 spacecraft. (The A 2 experiment on HEAO 1 is a collaborative effort led by E. Boldt of GSFC and G. Garmire of CIT, with collaborators at GSFC, CIT, JPL, and UCB). The LEDs are described in detail by Rothschild et al.2 Briefly, the data reported here were acquired using the LED1 narrow field of view (1.5° FWHM in the scan direction) which has an effective area of 175 cm2 and is sensitive to X-rays between 0.2 and 3 keV.

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TUOHY, I., NUGENT, J., GARMIRE, G. et al. Evidence for X-ray emission from Kepler's supernova remnant. Nature 279, 139–140 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1038/279139a0

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