Universe (Jul 2024)

Study of Wide-Field-of-View X-ray Observations of the Virgo Cluster Using the Lobster Eye Imager for Astronomy

  • Wen-Cheng Feng,
  • Shu-Mei Jia,
  • Hai-Hui Zhao,
  • Heng Yu,
  • Hai-Wu Pan,
  • Cheng-Kui Li,
  • Yu-Lin Cheng,
  • Shan-Shan Weng,
  • Yong Chen,
  • Yuan Liu,
  • Zhi-Xing Ling,
  • Chen Zhang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/universe10070300
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 7
p. 300

Abstract

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The Lobster Eye Imager for Astronomy (LEIA) is the pathfinder of the wide-field X-ray telescope used in the Einstein Probe mission. In this study, we present an image of the Virgo Cluster taken by LEIA in the 0.5–4.5 keV band with an exposure time of ∼17.3 ks in the central region. This extended emission is generally consistent with the results obtained by ROSAT. However, the field is affected by bright point sources due to the instrument’s Point Spread Function (PSF) effect. Through fitting of the LEIA spectrum of the Virgo Cluster, we obtained a temperature of 2.1−0.1+0.3 keV, which is consistent with the XMM-Newton results (∼2.3 keV). Above 1.6 keV, the spectrum is dominated by the X-ray background. In summary, this study validates LEIA’s extended source imaging and spectral resolution capabilities for the first time.

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