Not exact matches
An
emission line like that in the hands of an astronomer is like a radar gun in the hands of a cop: It reveals how fast the X-ray-emitting
iron atoms are traveling.
Thorough analysis finally revealed an underlying, much broader,
line: the coronal
emission line from ionized
iron.
An «
emission line» like that in the hands of an astronomer is likea radar gun in the hands of a cop: It reveals how fast theX - ray - emitting
iron atoms are traveling.
The netresult is that the sharp
emission line is smeared into a broad, asymmetrical hump — and the broader the hump, the faster the
iron must bemoving and the closer it must be to the black hole.
The astronomers argue that the intensity falls when more of the
iron in matter near the black hole is completely ionized — stripped of all 26 of its electrons, so none remain to generate the
emission line.
He and his colleagues focused on the K - alpha
emission line of
iron, visible in the spectra of many active galactic nuclei (AGN)-- the brilliant centers of these galaxies.
«Better high - energy data are required in order to determine whether this new method gives a spin estimate which is consistent with that derived from the
iron line, or whether it instead reveals a lack of understanding of disc continuum
emission and / or of disc reflection,» the team wrote.