NSF-CGP Science Fellowship Program: Studies of the X-Ray Emission from SuperNova Remnants and Clusters of Galaxies

This award will support a six month visit to Japan by Dr. John P. Hughes, High Energy Astrophysics Division, U.S. Smithsonian Institution Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts to carry out a collaborative project with Professor Katsuji Koyama, Department of Physics at Kyoto University. The researchers will also be cooperating with scientists at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), which is located outside Tokyo and serves as the "hub" for X-ray astronomy in Japan. The research will be based on information to be transmitted from the X-ray Astronomy Satellite (ASTRO-D) which is scheduled for launch in February l993. This satellite is a collaborative mission between the U.S. and Japan and will be the fourth in a series of X-ray satellites launched in Japan. This mission has high capability of imaging and spectroscopy in the hard X-ray band. The first phase of the mission will be devoted to performance verfication and on-orbit calibration activities. This will be followed by studies and analyses of supernova remnants and clusters of galaxies. Knowledge provided by this data will develop fundamental new insights into the nature and emission processes of all classes of astrophysical sources. The Japanese have been the leaders in this area of X-ray astronomy. Professor Hughes has expertise in the areas of verification and calibration of X-ray satellites which will be valuable to the Japanese. Both he and the U.S. scientific community will benefit from very early access to the data. It is anticipated that the collaboration developed between these researchers will continue for many years.