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K.A. Flanagan, C.R. Canizares, D.S. Davis, D. Dewey, J.C. Houck, M.L. Schattenburg (MIT Center for Space Research)
The High Energy Transmission Grating (HETG) Spectrometer aboard the Chandra X-Ray Observatory was used to observe E0102-72, a ~ 1000 year old, oxygen rich supernova in the Small Magellanic Cloud. The HETG disperses the image of the remnant into a spectrum of images in the light of individual X-ray emission lines. We distinguish ~ 20 lines from hydrogenic and helium-like ions of oxygen, neon and magnesium. These lines enable us to explore plasma conditions as a function of position throughout the remnant. Doppler shifts in the strongest lines reveal bulk motions of up to 2000 km/sec with a complex morphology. Comparison of progressive ionization stages of a given element provide new insights into the mechanism of the ``reverse shock" that heats the stellar ejecta.