Sgr A East and its surroundings — a view with XMM‐Newton

We present an X‐ray study of the Sgr A East region based on recent XMM‐Newton observations. The spectrum of Sgr A East can be represented by a two‐component thin thermal plasma model with temperatures of 1 and 4 keV, both of which have reached ionization equilibrium state. The abundance of iron is found to be higher in the central region of the nebula, with Z ≈ 3–4 solar, than in the outer area for which Z ∼ 0.5 solar. On the other hand, the abundances of other elements appear uniformly distributed with Z ∼ 1. We also detect a weak fluorescent K α line from neutral iron in the outer region of source. We discuss the nature of Sgr A East on the basis of these new X‐ray results.