The Astrophysical Journal · 1982 · 38 citations · 0 references
Natural SciencesAstronomyPhysicsAstrophysicsExtragalactic AstronomyX-ray AstronomyExtragalactic X-ray SourcesGalactic CenterGalactic X-ray SourcesX-ray Background RadiationX-ray Source CatalogsDiffuse Extragalactic X-ray BackgroundGalactic Center High-energy EmissionGalactic Center X-ray EmissionGalactic Diffuse Emission ModelingGalactic X-ray BackgroundSoft X-ray AstronomySoft X-ray BackgroundX-ray Background Spectrum
Soft X-ray sky survey data for high galactic latitudes are used to constrain simple geometric models for the source of the diffuse X-ray background at 1 keV. The intensity maps show two extended and enhanced features, in Eridanus and in the direction of the galactic center, with a relatively uniform sky away from these features and an observed degree of isotropy consistent with a model in which the 0.5-1.2 keV background consists of an isotropic extragalactic component and a thick disk galactic component. A temperature of 2-3 million K and an emission pressure of 0.004 per cm to the 6th pc are derived for the galactic component from an assumed spectrum of 11E to the -1.4 power photons/sq cm s sr keV. While consistent with the data, a local, isotropically distributed source model is shown to pose physical difficulties.