Open AccessThe X-Ray Remnant of SN 1987A
Author(s) -
D. N. Burrows,
Eli Michael,
Una Hwang,
Richard McCray,
Roger A. Chevalier,
Robert Petre,
G. P. Garmire,
Stephen S. Holt,
J. A. Nousek
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
the astrophysical journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.376
H-Index - 489
eISSN - 1538-4357
pISSN - 0004-637X
DOI - 10.1086/317271
Subject(s) - physics , rosat , astrophysics , luminosity , observatory , supernova remnant , large magellanic cloud , flux (metallurgy) , astronomy , angular resolution (graph drawing) , hubble space telescope , telescope , x ray , light curve , supernova , stars , galaxy , optics , combinatorics , metallurgy , materials science , mathematics
We present high resolution Chandra observations of the remnant of SN1987A inthe Large Magellanic Cloud. The high angular resolution of the Chandra X-rayObservatory (CXO) permits us to resolve the X-ray remnant. We find that theremnant is shell-like in morphology, with X-ray peaks associated with some ofthe optical hot spots seen in HST images. The X-ray light curve has departedfrom the linear flux increase observed by ROSAT, with a 0.5-2.0 keV luminosityof 1.5 x 10^35 erg/s in January 2000. We set an upper limit of 2.3 x 10^34ergs/s on the luminosity of any embedded central source (0.5 - 2 keV). We alsopresent a high resolution spectrum, showing that the X-ray emission is thermalin origin and is dominated by highly ionized species of O, Ne, Mg, and Si.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
Accelerating Research
Robert Robinson Avenue,
Oxford Science Park, Oxford
OX4 4GP, United Kingdom
Address
John Eccles HouseRobert Robinson Avenue,
Oxford Science Park, Oxford
OX4 4GP, United Kingdom