The Interaction of X-Rays with the Interstellar Medium.
Abstract
The models developed used to compute the photoabsorption cross-section of the interstellar medium in the direction of the Crab Nebula. This cross-section is employed to reanalyze the soft X-ray data acquired by the Copernicus satellite. The resulting value of the total hydrogen column density, when interpreted in the context of the interstellar model, is fully consistent with ultraviolet and radio observations. Interstellar absorption and scattering obscure and disguise the soft X-ray spectra of cosmic sources; however, the features introduced into the the spectra are potentially valuable probes of the structure and dynamics of the interstellar medium.
- Publication:
-
Ph.D. Thesis
- Pub Date:
- November 1978
- Bibcode:
- 1978PhDT.........8R
- Keywords:
-
- Physics: Astronomy and Astrophysics;
- Interstellar Gas;
- Particle Interactions;
- X Ray Absorption;
- Cross Sections;
- Gas Dynamics;
- Opacity;
- Photoabsorption;
- Space Radiation