SPECTRAL MONITORING OF NGCvirgul1365: NUCLEUS AND VARIABLE ULX

We propose three 60virgulks XMMNewton EPIC observations spread throughout Cycle 3 tostudy the spectral/temporal properties of two exceptional variable Xray sourcesin the spiral galaxy NGCvirgul1365: the Seyfert 1.8 nucleus and the extra nuclearultraluminous Xray source (ULX) detected with ASCA at luminosities surpassing10E40 ergs/s. The proposed observations will be crucial for understanding thephysics of the AGN emission and of the Comptonthick/thin transitions. Theobservations of the ULX will provide variability and spectral information thatwill help us to constrain the nature of this rare class of exceptionallyluminous sources, of which very little is known: intermediate mass black holes,less extreme beamed Xray binaries, or microquasars. truncated!, Please see actual data for full text [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]