Mentor
Philip Karret
Participation year
2021
Project title

HaloSat X-Ray Spectrometry

Abstract

The Virgo Cluster is the closest large galaxy cluster, found within the namesake Virgo constellation. The cluster comprises over 1000 member galaxies, located about 16.1~Mpc from Earth with an approximately 8.2\degree\ radius \citep{Tonry_2001}. Virgo's Intracluster Medium (ICM) is contained within the cluster's gravity while considered external to individual member galaxies. Virgo's ICM produces distinct X-ray emissions of an unusually shallow X-ray surface brightness profile, implying a large contribution from outer material. Comprehensive X-ray observations of the cluster are challenging due to its large angular size, with recent studies from \cite{Urban_2011} and \cite{Su_2019} constrained by limited detector view-fields. The HaloSat mission represents the first full survey of this interstellar feature since ROSAT in \cite{Bohringer_1994}, which provided poor energy resolution. The following analysis seeks to measure the total X-ray luminosity of Virgo's ICM by analyzing a single X-ray spectrum of the entire cluster. 

 

Education
Colorado College