INTEGRAL views a Compton mirror at the Galactic Centre
In a recent paper
(
astro-ph/0408190, A&A accepted), M. Revnivtsev et
al. report on the association of IGR J17475-2822, recently discovered
by INTEGRAL, with the giant molecular cloud Sgr B2 in the Galactic
Center region. Data from different observatories strongly support the
idea that the hard X-ray emission of Sgr B2 is Compton scattered and
reprocessed radiation emitted in the past by the Sgr A* source, the
supermassive black-hole candidate in the center of our Galaxy.
The IBIS/ISGRI image (top; 18-60 keV) shows the inner 3.5 degree by
2.5 degree region of the center of the Galaxy. Contours represent
signal-to-noise levels starting at S/N = 5 and increasing with a
factor 1.4. The image has a total effective exposure time of 2.3 Ms.
The bottom image is the same INTEGRAL image, however, now with
the brightness distribution of the 6.4 keV iron line as determined by
ASCA/GIS, overplotted as contours.
Credits: M. Revnivtsev (IKI Moscow, MPA Garching) et al.
(see also astro-ph/0408190, accepted for publication in A&A)
