Previous
abstract 
Next
abstract
Session 40 - Supernova Remnants & SN 1987A.
Display session, Thursday, January 08
Exhibit Hall,
We present a detailed optical/X-ray comparison of the filaments of the Galactic SNR RCW 86 (also known as G 315.2-2.3 or MSH 14-63). The optical data consist of deep H\alpha and [S II] emission line images taken with the UM/CTIO Curtis Schmidt telescope, and the X-ray dataset is composed of deep ROSAT PSPC and HRI images of the remnant.
Our preliminary analysis of the HRI dataset (using only the two pointings available out of the four scheduled) shows no significant offset between the X-ray emission in the high-resolution HRI images and the sharp Balmer-dominated filaments. The Balmer-dominated filaments do however bound the X-ray filaments along all the sampled regions. The PSPC data show significant spectral variation around the remnant, which we interpret as temperature variations. We present an approximate temperature map based on the ratio of Snowden bands (6+7 over 3+4), and discuss the possible sources of the observed variations. This work was supported in part by NASA grant NAG5-4825 and the Dean B. McLaughlin Fellowship.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: chris@astro.lsa.umich.edu
