The high throughput X-ray spectroscopy mission XMM is the second cornerstone project in the European Space Agency (ESA) long-term program for space science. This observatory has at its heart three large X-ray telescopes, which will provide a large collecting area (1450 cm each at 1.5 keV and 600 cm2 each at 8.0 keV) with a spatial resolution around 15 arcesec. Five Flight models (including the two spare ones) of the XMM X-ray telescope have been delivered to ESA in 1998. They show optical performance. which is far better than the specifications, especially in terms of optical and X-ray stray light reduction. The low level of X-ray stray light will be an important benefit for the observation of the extended faint sources such as super nova . remnants or clusters of active galaxies. This reduction of X-ray stray light is due, in particular. to the implementation of a very complex and accurate X-ray baffle mounted at the entrance of the telescope.In this paper, we present first the need, the design. the , manufacturing and the integration of the X-ray baffle. Then, we concentrate on the verification of the performance of the baffle at ; the Centre Spatial de Liege. Finally, we will present the excellent results obtained with these baffles.1.
The X-ray observations of SN 1987A over the previous 20 years have seen the emergence of soft X-rays from the interaction of the explosion shock wave with the ambient medium. This shock wave is now interacting strongly with the inner ring and might have passed already the highest density regions. The emission can be described by thermal models with temperatures of ∼0.28 keV and ∼2.8 +0.7 −1.0 keV, with perhaps some but little change over time. High resolution spectroscopy reveals a large variety of shock velocities ranging from a few hundred to many thousand km s −1 . Relative to the elemental abundances prevailing in the LMC the inner ring shows an overabundance of Si and S compared to the lighter elements and Fe, which suggests that the ring consists of highly processed matter dredged up in a binary merger event well before the explosion. The Xray lightcurves between 0.5-2 keV and 3-10 keV differ significantly in slope, with the latter being much flatter but very similar to the radio light curve.
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