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Session 51 - New Views of the Magellanic Clouds - I.
Oral session, Wednesday, June 12
Historical Society,
Mosaics combining the large number of unrelated overlapping ROSAT PSPC pointings of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds will be presented as well as the current results of the HRI mapping projects. The PSPC and HRI images are quite complimentary with the PSPC providing spectral information while the HRI provides improved spatial resolution.
The X-ray morphology of extended emission in the Magellanic Clouds differs considerably. While the LMC exhibits widely distributed and intense diffuse emission in the 0.5-2 keV band implying a very active and energetic ISM, the SMC shows little if any. ROSAT observations are providing invaluable data to study this difference. For example, emission structures in the LMC can be studies directly with the PSPC data while in the SMC the HRI data will allow for a sensitive determination of the level of any diffuse emission.
At 1øver4 keV, the SMC has long been a target of diffuse soft X-ray observations. First as a shadowing target for extragalactic emission and later to search for diffuse emission from the SMC itself. The Einstein mosaic of the SMC purported to show centrally peaked emission with an extent of several degrees, as demonstrated by radial profiles centered on (1^hr, -73^\circ). The ROSAT PSPC mosaic of the SMC at 1øver4 keV shows considerably more structure than a simple radial gradient with enhancements on the east and southwest. The interpretation of this structure in the 1øver4 keV data is relatively complex because of the different possibilities for its origin. Since there is no clear correlation of the emission variation with material of the SMC, it may in actuality originate in the Milky Way Halo or in the Local Hot Bubble.
