We present hard X-ray observations of the nearby radio galaxy M87 and the core of the Virgo cluster using the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. These are the first hard X-ray observations of M87 not affected by contamination from the nearby Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 4388. Thermal emission from Virgo’s intracluster medium is clearly detected and has a spectrum indicative of kT ≈ 2.5 keV plasma with approx...

Our Chandra observation of the FRI radio galaxy 3C 66B has resulted in the first detection of an X-ray counterpart to the previously known radio, infra-red and optical jet. The X-ray jet is detected up to 7 arcsec from the core and has a steep X-ray spectrum, α ≈ 1.3 ± 0.1. The overall X-ray flux density and spectrum of the jet are consistent with a synchrotron origin for the X-ray emission. Ho...

Clusters of galaxies have not yet been detected at gamma-ray frequencies; however, the recently launched Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, formerly known as GLAST, could provide the first detections in the near future. Clusters are expected to emit gamma rays as a result of (1) a population of high-energy primary and re-accelerated secondary cosmic rays fueled by structure formation and merger s...

The last years have seen a revolution in ground-based g-ray detectors. We can now detect the spectra of nearby TeV blazars like Mrk 421 and Mrk 501 out to ∼20 TeV, and during the strongest flares, we can now follow fluctuations in these spectra on timescales close to the shortest ones likely in these objects. We point out that this represents a unique opportunity. Using these and future detecto...

We present hard X-ray observations of the nearby radio galaxy M87 and the core of the Virgo cluster using the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. These are the first hard X-ray observations of M87 not affected by contamination from the nearby Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 4388. Thermal emission from Virgo’s intracluster medium is clearly detected and has a spectrum that is well described by a kT ≈ 2.7 keV ther...

We present the soft X–ray spectrum of the LINER galaxy M81 from a long observation with the XMM-Newton RGS. As well as continuum emission from the active nucleus , the spectrum shows emission lines from multi temperature collisionally ionized gas. The emission lines are significantly broader than the RGS point-source spectral resolution, and in the cross dispersion direction the emission lines ...

We present the X-ray spectrum of TW Hya observed at high and intermediate spectral resolution with the Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS) and the European Photon Imaging Camera (EPIC) onboard the XMM-Newton satellite. TW Hya is the first classical T Tauri star for which simultaneous X-ray data with both high spectral resolution and high sensitivity were obtained, thus allowing to probe the X...

We present hard X-ray observations of the nearby radio galaxy M87 and the core of the Virgo cluster using the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. These are the first hard X-ray observations of M87 not affected by contamination from the nearby Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 4388. Thermal emission from Virgo’s intracluster medium is clearly detected and has a spectrum that is well described by a kT 2:5 keV therma...

We have reanalysed the ASCA X-ray spectrum of the bright symbiotic star CH Cyg, which exhibits apparently distinct hard and soft X-ray components. Our analysis demonstrates that the soft X-ray emission can be interpreted as scattering of the hard X-ray component in a photo-ionised medium surrounding the white dwarf. This is in contrast to previous analyses in which the soft X-ray emission was f...

Tm3+ , Yb3+  and Tm3+ /Yb3+  doped LaVO4 nanostructures were synthe- sized for the first time by using the hydrothermal method with the aid of La(CH3CO2)3 as  lanthanum source in presence of oleic acid as surfactant. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and ...