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[39.13] Observation of RCW103 using the Chandra X-ray Observatory

G. P. Garmire, A. B. Garmire, D. N. Burrows, G. Pavlov (Penn State)

The supernova remnant RCW103 was observed on September 26, 1999 for about 20 ksec with the Chandra X-ray Observatory using the ACIS Imaging Array. The pulsar PSR J1615-5055 and the central object in RCW103 were detected and positioned to about one arcsecond. The pulsar position agreed with the radio determination to about one arcsecond and the central object position agreed with star A of Tuohy and Garmire 1980 (Ap. J. 239, L107) and Tuohy (private communication) to about one arcsecond. The central object showed a clear indication of temporal variability during the observation, varying by about a factor of two. Results of spectral fitting to both the pulsar and central object will be presented. The association with star A could imply that a low mas X-ray binary was formed in the explosion, although the luminosity of the central source is very low compared to the typical LMXB.

This work was supported in part by NASA contract NAS8-38252.