Search Publications
A synthetic view on structure and evolution of the Milky Way
Reylé, C.; Robin, A. C.; Derrière, S. +1 more
Since the Hipparcos mission and recent large scale surveys in the optical and the near-infrared, new constraints have been obtained on the structure and evolution history of the Milky Way. The population synthesis approach is a useful tool to interpret such data sets and to test scenarios of evolution of the Galaxy. We present here new constraints…
The INTEGRAL mission
Sunyaev, R.; Mas-Hesse, J. M.; Gehrels, N. +17 more
The ESA observatory INTEGRAL (International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory) is dedicated to the fine spectroscopy (2.5 keV FWHM @ 1 MeV) and fine imaging (angular resolution: 12 arcmin FWHM) of celestial gamma-ray sources in the energy range 15 keV to 10 MeV with concurrent source monitoring in the X-ray (3-35 keV) and optical (V-band, 550 nm) …
IBIS: The Imager on-board INTEGRAL
Di Cocco, G.; Vigroux, L.; Bird, A. J. +17 more
The IBIS telescope is the high angular resolution gamma-ray imager on-board the INTEGRAL Observatory, successfully launched from Baikonur (Kazakhstan) the 17{th} of October 2002. This medium size ESA project, planned for a 2 year mission with possible extension to 5, is devoted to the observation of the gamma-ray sky in the energy range from 3 keV…
ISGRI: The INTEGRAL Soft Gamma-Ray Imager
Laurent, P.; Dzitko, H.; Lebrun, F. +21 more
For the first time in the history of high energy astronomy, a large CdTe gamma-ray camera is operating in space. ISGRI is the low-energy camera of the IBIS telescope on board the INTEGRAL satellite. This paper details its design and its in-flight behavior and performances. Having a sensitive area of 2621 cm2 with a spatial resolution of…
The 2-10 keV luminosity as a Star Formation Rate indicator
Ranalli, P.; Comastri, A.; Setti, G.
Radio and far infrared luminosities of star-forming galaxies follow a tight linear relation. Making use of ASCA and BeppoSAX observations of a well-defined sample of nearby star-forming galaxies, we argue that tight linear relations hold between the X-ray, radio and far infrared luminosities. The effect of intrinsic absorption is investigated taki…
SPI: The spectrometer aboard INTEGRAL
Boggs, S.; Knödlseder, J.; von Kienlin, A. +25 more
SPI is a high spectral resolution gamma-ray telescope on board the ESA mission INTEGRAL (International Gamma Ray Astrophysics Laboratory). It consists of an array of 19 closely packed germanium detectors surrounded by an active anticoincidence shield of BGO. The imaging capabilities of the instrument are obtained with a tungsten coded aperture mas…
Age and metallicity distribution of the Galactic bulge from extensive optical and near-IR stellar photometry
Rejkuba, M.; Greggio, L.; Zoccali, M. +7 more
We present a new determination of the metallicity distribution, age, and luminosity function of the Galactic bulge stellar population. By combining near-IR data from the 2MASS survey, from the SOFI imager at ESO NTT and the NICMOS camera on board HST we were able to construct color-magnitude diagrams (CMD) and luminosity functions (LF) with large …
JEM-X: The X-ray monitor aboard INTEGRAL
Andersson, H.; Frontera, F.; Costa, E. +52 more
The JEM-X monitor provides X-ray spectra and imaging with arcminute angular resolution in the 3 to 35 keV band. The good angular resolution and the low energy response of JEM-X plays an important role in the identification of gamma ray sources and in the analysis and scientific interpretation of the combined X-ray and gamma ray data. JEM-X is a co…
3D mapping of the dense interstellar gas around the Local Bubble
Crifo, F.; Lallement, R.; Welsh, B. Y. +2 more
We present intermediate results from a long-term program of mapping the neutral absorption characteristics of the local interstellar medium, motivated by the availability of accurate and consistent parallaxes from the Hipparcos satellite. Equivalent widths of the interstellar NaI D-line doublet at 5890 Å are presented for the lines-of-sight toward…
The INTEGRAL Science Data Centre (ISDC)
Strong, A. W.; Mereghetti, S.; Paltani, S. +17 more
The INTEGRAL Science Data Centre (ISDC) provides the INTEGRAL data and means to analyse them to the scientific community. The ISDC runs a gamma ray burst alert system that provides the position of gamma ray bursts on the sky within seconds to the community. It operates a quick-look analysis of the data within few hours that detects new and unexpec…