Abstract
IN a recent flight of a Black Brant rocket, AKF-IIIB-51, we have observed a new intense source of X-radiation with a photon flux of 16.9 cm−2 s−1 in the 1.5–5.0 keV range. The rocket was launched on October 26, 1969, from Resolute Bay, Canada, at 0640 h GMT and reached an apogee of 196 km. It carried two proportional counters nested in a plastic scintillator mould, with their fields of view (∼20° × 20°) in opposite radial directions. The detailed experimental configuration was similar to that used in earlier University of Calgary flights1. The detectors had windows of 3.0 × 10−3 inch beryllium arid 2.5 × 10−4 inch mylar so that together they covered the range of energies 0.2–12.5 keV. Above the atmosphere the rocket spun with a period of 3.34 s and processed very slowly (period ∼52 min) about a cone of half angle 18°, consequently scanning almost the same region of sky on each sweep. The aspect was determined, using the data collected by three on-board magnetometers and a system of lunar sensors, to less than 2° uncertainty. At the time of the flight the Sun was 28° below the horizon with a shadow height of 750 km.
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References
Baxter, A. J., Wilson, B. G., and Green, D. W., Canad. J. Phys., 47, 2651 (1969).
Meekins, J. F., Henry, R. C., Fritz, G., Friedmann, H., and Byram, E. T., Astrophys. J., 157, 197 (1969).
Seward, F. D., LRL Technical Report, UCID-15622 (1970).
Barnden, L. R., and Francey, R. J., Proc. Astron. Soc. Austral., 1, 236 (1969).
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SHUKLA, P., WILSON, B. Strong New X-ray Object in the Cetus Region. Nature 228, 1077–1079 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1038/2281077b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2281077b0
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