GX301-2
Despite decades of theoretical and observational studies, wind-driven accretion in High-Mass X-ray binaries is poorly understood. Our understanding is limited because matter accreted from stellar wind by a compact object has never been directly observed. A XRISM observation of GX 301-2 on February 1st, 2025, which caught the end of the pre-periastron flare, produced clear spectroscopic evidence of highly ionized plasma moving towards the neutron star. This makes GX 301-2 unique in its potential for studying infalling matter in wind-driven accretion. The pre-periastron flare is hypothesized to originate from the neutron star crossing a high-density stream. XRISM provides an opportunity to test the stream hypothesis and constrain the models of wind-fed accretion onto pulsars. Since the previ
obsid = 202046010 / Unique Observation/Sequence Number
object = GX301-2 / Object name
pi_name = LEUTENEGGER MAURICE / Proposal Principal Investigator Name
ra = 186.655479165953 / Right Ascension (Pointing Position) (deg)
dec = -62.7713030920105 / Declination (Pointing Position) (deg)
roll_angle = 98.7150726437374 / Roll Angle (deg)
start_time = 2025-12-23T15:29:04 / Start Time of the Observation
stop_time = 2025-12-26T09:29:04 / Stop Time of the Observation
exposure = 144371.84005 / Effective Total Observation Exposure (s)
public_date= 2027-01-08 / Public Date