OSSE Observations of NGC 4151

Abstract

We report results of a two-week observation of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 4151 with the Oriented Scintillation Spectrometer Experiment (OSSE) instrument on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO). The source had a very soft spectrum which is best represented by a broken power law or Sunyaev-Titarchuk thermal Comptonization model. It can be characterized by an exponential shape with an e-folding energy of 39 plus or minus 2 keV in the energy range 65 - 300 keV, and an intensity at 100 keV of (2.33 plus or minus 0.05) x 10 (exp -5) photons /sq cm s (exp -1) keV(exp -1). Source intensity variability of ~ 25% was observed during the 14 days of our observations; no significant change in spectral shape was detected for this period. The steepness and shape of the spectrum above 100 keV rule out (chi(exp 2) probability ~7 x 10(exp 4)) simple pair cascade models in a compact source which have been suggested for Seyfert galaxies.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1992
Accession Number
ADA461894

Entities

People

  • D. A> Grabelsky
  • G. V. Jung
  • J. D. Kurfess
  • M. Maisack
  • M. P. Ulmer
  • M. S> Strickman
  • R. A. Cameron
  • R. L. Kinzer
  • W. N. Johnson
  • W. R. Purcell

Organizations

  • George Mason University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Electrons
  • Emission
  • Energy
  • Energy Bands
  • Gamma Rays
  • Hard X Rays
  • High Energy
  • Intensity
  • Military Research
  • Observation
  • Radiation
  • Scattering
  • Spectra
  • X Ray Spectra
  • X Rays

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Astronomy/Astrophysics
  • Solar Physics