Since 2021, the DFG research unit “eRO-STEP” (eROSITA studies of Stellar Endpoints) has been investigating astrophysical sources of X-ray emission, focusing in particular on compact objects (white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes) and hot gas in the interstellar medium. The SRG/eROSITA X-ray telescope allows for carrying out systematic surveys across the whole sky, and studying the behavior of individual sources or source populations as a whole. In the past three years, the eRO-STEP team, led by spokesperson Prof. Manami Sasaki from the Remeis Observatory, has been investigating bright individual sources in the Milky Way and its neighboring galaxies, for instance discovering previously unknown supernova remnants or compact objects in isolation and in binary systems.
As of March 2024, the funding of the research unit through DFG has been extended for three further years. During the upcoming second funding period, which will last until 2027, the team will investigate fainter and more distant sources and source populations, in our own and other galaxies. The goal of this effort is to understand how phenomena such as accretion of matter onto compact objects, particle acceleration in astrophysical shock waves, and the enrichment and heating of interstellar medium through supernovae contribute to shaping galactic ecosystems as a whole.
Manami Sasaki
Manami.Sasaki@fau.de
+49 9131 85-81019