Previous
abstract 
Next
abstract
Merged maps of the mosaic of PSPC pointings towards the LMC, SMC, and Ophiuchus dark clouds are presented. The data have been background subtracted, exposure/vignetting corrected, and normalized using regions of overlap between adjacent pointings. For the LMC and Ophiuchus maps, this work entailed the processing of 40 and 33 individual observations, respectively, with total exposure times of 327~ks and 115~ks. The SMC mosaic consists of only six observations with 87~ks total exposure. Both the methods used in creating the images and the images themselves are discussed.
The data clearly show the utility of the data-reduction techniques used for the analysis and the quality of the ROSAT data. For example, while the general coarse extended structure of the Einstein IPC survey of the LMC is certainly confirmed by the image presented here, the higher spatial and spectral resolution of the PSPC provides a wealth of detailed structure in the X-ray band which was unobtainable before ROSAT . The dynamic range in surface brightness between nominal off-cloud regions and nominal high-intensity regions of the cloud, slightly less than an order of magnitude, is also in good agreement between the two data sets.
