Proposal Details - 0820025
Broad Band Variability of Microquasars: Integral observations of Cygnus X-1 and GRS 1915+105 (Wilms)

Proposal Summary (based on proposal abstract)

Monitoring of microquasars such as GRS 1915+105 and Cygnus X-1 during the previous INTEGRAL AOs has revealed a wealth of new observational information. The monitoring has revealed the dynamical behavior of these sources above 20 keV on all timescales, as opposed to the snapshot observations available before. It is proposed to continue the monitoring of these canonical black holes with a dedicated Key Programme in INTEGRAL AO8, which will also include the soft X-rays through a strategy that allows the source to remain in the field of view of JEM-X. The proposed investigation will allow to study different emission models for the two extreme cases of microquasars with INTEGRAL and simultaneous optical, IR, and radio observations. This proposal is a continuation of our earlier accepted observations that started in AO1.

Observation Strategy (Recommended by TAC)

A total of 1.2 Ms using a randomized HEX pattern, split into 25x20 ks of fixed-time monitoring observations on GRS 1915+105 (RA, Dec = 288.798, 10.946; l, b = 10.946, -0.219) and 7x100 ks normal type observations on Cygnus X-1 (RA, Dec = 299.59, 35.202; l, b = 71.335, 3.067). The observations of GRS 1915+105 will be done approximately every second revolution; the observations of Cygnus X-1 will be spread over the whole AO-8.

Proposal grade: A

Data Rights (Recommended by TAC)

The TAC has allocated the following specific Data Rights to this proposal: GRS 1915+105 and Cygnus X-1.

Exposure Map

Exposure maps are in units of s and shown using Galactic coordinates. The intensity scale is given by the colourbar, and there are contour levels at 100, 300 and 500 ks.