Latest Suzaku News
— Findings Publicized at HEAD Conference
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One measure of mission success, or for that matter the success of any collaborative effort, is the usefulness of the planning and execution of that effort. To see work blossom after years of labor and stress, and the contributions of thousands of people from across the globe, can be most satisfying. So it was when at the High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) it was announced that Suzaku data had furthered our understandings of how black holes work. The announcement was the first of many that will follow in the coming months, and represents a new "phase" in understanding the mission as a whole - that of producing world class science results!
Two teams from different parts of the world presented results at the conference that were based on data that was taken from Suzaku. One team studied a dynamic black hole at the center of a galaxy known as MCG-6-30-15. The other team studied MCG-5-23-16, another galaxy with an active galactic nucleus (AGN) cause by a black hole.
The first team was led by Professor Andrew Fabian from Cambridge in England. In studying MCG-6-30-15, Dr. Fabian and his extensive team found that the black hole was spinning rapidly and that it bent X-rays much as a lens does to visible light. This second conclusion serves to confirm part of Einstein's Theory of Relativity.
The second team was led by Dr. Jim Reeves of NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and this team studied the accretion disk, which is the material that flattens and rotates around a black hole. They found the disk to be tilted at a 45 degree angle - truly a high precision finding for an object so far away!
So we hope that this newsletter helps you to bring the excitement of discovery home to your students, while at the same time providing clarity regarding these discoveries that will make you feel like an expert.
Resources for All
— Websites and Ideas Galore!
Where can you glean more information and take advantage of this teachable moment with your students? The following web sites may provide both facts and wonderment.
Astronomy Picture of the Day for 21 October 2001 - An image may be worth a thousand words, so this is a logical starting block for an exploration of Suzaku's discoveries. Here you will find a data-driven artist's representation of the black hole studied by Dr. Fabian and his colleagues. It has great visual impact, as well as being structurally correct. Perhaps asking students what they know about black holes, then showing this would serve as an excellent discussion kick-off.
Suzaku's Discovery Debut at the Suzaku Learning Center - Here you will find the "nuts and bolts" of the two discoveries, along with a couple of links that will send you further down the trail of discovery. Additionally, you may already know that the entire site is filled with information and activities about Suzaku, including an opportunity to order our Telly Award winning DVD and a draft version of the accompanying teacher's guide.
Scientists Nudge Closer to the Edge of a Black Hole - At this site you will see the official NASA press release regarding the findings. Not only is the text first rate, but several online animations give you an "up close and personal" view of the workings of a black hole.
So whether you want to spend half a day or two weeks looking at this great example of science in action, these resources can serve as the heart of the exploring that you and your students will do.
EDUCATORS - WE NEED YOU!!!: We are hoping that you might be the type of educator who enjoys reviewing new classroom activities, or even perhaps using them in your classroom. If you are, we would be interested in having you review and/or classroom test activities that have been developed around Suzaku. Please respond to suznuzquiz@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov and we will respond in short order.
Objects of Interest
— MCG-6-30-15 and the Iron Spectrum
Most galaxies, including our Milky Way galaxy, have an enormous black hole at their core. A supermassive black hole contains the mass of millions to billions of stars compressed within a region smaller than our solar system.
The black hole in MCG-6-30-15, over 100 million light-years from Earth, has the mass of about 100 million Suns. One by-product of a black hole such as this one is a spectral "fingerprint" for each of the elements that make up the gas swirling around the black hole. Speeds of this gas may reach 40 or even 50 percent of the speed of light! This produces X-rays that are then detected by Suzaku.
One such element studied heavily is iron. Its fingerprint is broadened by the intense gravitational pull it is experiencing. Never has this broadening been measured in so much detail, allowing Dr. Fabian and his team to draw new conclusions about an object that has been the target of study for many years.
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Pictured above is an artist's conception of the region near a black hole (left) and the spectrum from MCG-6-30-15 (right). The "narrow line" emission comes from material traveling far from the black hole, so at a relatively low velocity. Low velocity translates into less Doppler shift as the material travels around the black hole, toward and away from us. The "broad line" emission is due to rapidly moving material (greater Doppler shift) near the spinning black hole. ("Ratio" indicates the X-ray intensity from iron atoms in the gas around the black hole relative to the baseline X-ray continuum emission from the galaxy.)
A Brief History of X-Rays
— X-rays + Computers = Saved Lives
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Does the picture to the right look a little like you? This picture is brought to us courtesy of one of the most important developments in the second half of the twentieth century. No, not just the X-ray machine, but its combination with the computer and other modes of improved information technology. Computerized use of X-rays was thought about during the 1950s and early 1960s. In the 1960s, many radiotherapy centers were connected through telephone lines to a mainframe computer, such as the IBM 360 at New York's Memorial Hospital. In 1980s and 90s, the use of the computer to record, process, display and store diagnostic information was a critically important development in diagnostic X-ray technology. Today there are scanning X-ray microscopes using electronics similar to that of a scanning electron microscope or scanning tunneling microscope. The new ease of handling and increase in efficiency and analytical power has increased the attraction of analytical instrumentation for use outside the laboratory, as a part of the production process or in quality control. X-rays are now used routinely not just in medicine and in academic and corporate research, but have become routine in many activities beyond.
Trivia Question:
A research question while you are at the computer, since the last quiz only produced partially correct answers - Who was the first to use X-rays for orthodontic diagnosis?
The first person to answer correctly… will win educational materials from the Imagine the Universe! team.
From the last edition:
The principle behind Tesla's device is today known as Bremsstrahlung. What language is the term from, and what does it literally mean in that language?
Also, Tesla lectured to the New York (US) Academy of Sciences while involved in one of the first and most radical hydroelectric power projects, which generated AC current on a city-wide scale for the first time. Name the city that this project provided power to for the first time at midnight on November 16, 1896.
Answers: The language is German. The literal translation is "braking radiation" - the term refers to the braking of particles which leads to the emission of high energy photons. The city that this project provided power to for the first time at midnight on November 16, 1896 was Buffalo, NY.
There was no winner for Suznuz #6.
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