 The
Ginga Satellite |
 The
Ginga Satellite on its launcher |
 Ginga's
Instruments |
 The
Ginga Large Area Counter (LAC) |
 The
Ginga Satellite prior to launch |
 The
sudden commencement of accretion of gas from a low-mass star onto a companion
compact object leads to a huge outpouring of relatively soft X-ray emission (an
X-ray nova).This X-ray light curve from the
Ginga satellite shows such an event. The flux can exceed that of the brightest
persistant X-ray sources. The study of the early phases of these events with the
Rossi X-ray Timing Experiment (RXTE) will probe the cause of the sudden accretion.
Optical identifications should lead to new candidate black holes. |
 Rapid
aperiodic pulsing (quasi- periodic oscillations; QPO's) in low-mass X-ray binaries
is probably due to interactions between the circulating matter in the accretion
disk and the magnetosphere of the neutron star. These pulsations are directly
seen with the Ginga satellite during a burst from the "Rapid Burster"
source. The mechanism that gives rise to QPO pulsations is not yet known. They
may be symptomatic of a heretofore undetected pulsar spinning almost 1000 times
a second. |
 Spectral
features found at relatively high X-ray energies are believed to be due to electrons
spiraling in the very high magnetic field of neutron stars. The
absorption feature in the spectra of the X-ray pulsar 1538-52 observed by
Ginga is seen to vary with the (numbered) phase of the pulsing. This cyclotron
radiation is a direct diagnostic of the hot plasmas and strong magnetic fields
in the polar regions of the neutron star. |
 The
cross correlation of the X-ray and optical fluxes of BY Cam show the rapid
flickering in both bands to be highly correlated on ~1 minute time scales. BY
Cam (=H0538+608) is a magnetic white-dwarf cataclysmic-variable system (AM Her
type). The radiation may originate in a shock front just above the white-dwarf
surface. This detection required the large apertures of the Ginga satellite
and simultaneous optical and X-ray observations (Silber et al 1992, ApJ, 389,
704). |
