Comparison of Obscured AGN Spectrum and XMM Spectrum
This sequence of illustrations begins by showing an active galactic nucleus
(AGN), a supermassive black hole that is swallowing large amounts of gas
via a disk. In the type of AGN shown here the central black hole is
obscured by a thick donut-shaped cloud of dust and gas. A representation of the X-ray
spectrum, or X-ray energy signature, of a typical obscured AGN is then
shown in yellow, followed by the XMM spectrum of the event in RX J1242-11
(shown in blue). The clear difference between the obscured AGN spectrum and
the XMM spectrum shows that RX J1242-11 is not an obscured AGN. An optical
spectrum obtained earlier with HST rules out the possibility that RX
J1242-11 is a "normal" AGN, where the nucleus containing the black hole is
not obscured by dust and gas.
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Spectrum: ESA/XMM-Newton/S.Komossa et al.