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28.01.2015

An exceptionally powerful trio in the Large Magellanic Cloud

H.E.S.S. discovers three extremely luminous gamma-ray sources in Milky Way’s satellite galaxy – Astrophysicists from Tübingen are participating in international project.

Once again, the High Energy Stereoscopic System, H.E.S.S., has demonstrated its excellent capabilities. In the Large Magellanic Cloud, it discovered most luminous very high-energy gamma-ray sources: three objects of different type, namely the most powerful pulsar wind nebula, the most powerful supernova remnant, and a shell of 270 light years in diameter blown by multiple stars and supernovae – a so-called superbubble. This is the first time that stellar-type gamma-ray sources are detected in an external galaxy, at these gamma-ray energies. The superbubble represents a new source class in very high-energy gamma rays.

Figure: Optical image of the Milky Way and an infrared zoom into the Large Magellanic Cloud with superimposed H.E.S.S. sky maps. (Milky Way image: © H.E.S.S. Collaboration, optical: SkyView, A. Mellinger; LMC image © H.E.S.S. Collaboration, infrared: M. Braun et al. (1997), <link http: dirty.as.arizona.edu research mc mc.html external-link-new-window externen link in neuem>dirty.as.arizona.edu/~kgordon/research/mc/mc.html)

Press Release of the University of Tübingen:

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