2002/09/12 by K. Iwasawa, Philip R. Maloney, P. R. Maloney +1 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2002.06070.x
published as Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc.336:L71,2002 · 5 pages, MNRAS in press
arxiv created 2002/09/12 · openalex publication_date 2002/11/11 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
A short Chandra ACIS-S observation of the Seyfert 2 galaxy IC 2560, which hosts a luminous nuclear water megamaser, shows (1) that the X-ray emission is extended; (2) that the X-ray spectrum displays emission features in the soft (E < 2 keV) X-ray band (this is the major component of the extended emission); and (3) a very strong (EW ∼ 3.6 keV) iron Kα line at 6.4 keV on a flat continuum. This last feature clearly indicates that the X-ray source is hidden behind Compton-thick obscuration, so that the intrinsic hard X-ray luminosity must be much higher than that observed, probably close to ∼3 × 1042 erg s−1. We briefly discuss the implications for powering of the maser emission and the central source.