| Abstract: | The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on HST provides the first ultraviolet data that are of sufficient spectral and temporal resolution to generate Doppler tomograms of X‐ray binaries.We show both optical and ultraviolet maps constructed for the intermediate mass system Hercules X‐1/HZ Her and the massive wind‐fed system SMC X‐1/SK160. We have used the maps and corresponding lightcurves as diagnostics with which to test the validity of published models for Hercules X‐1. We find that although the models are mostly able to explain the light curves they are not consistent with the full phase maps. We present simulations of Doppler maps of X‐ray lines that will be possible with the spectral and temporal resolution and substantial effective area of the next major X‐ray mission, Con‐X. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) |
