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P. P. Plucinsky (SAO), R. Edgar (SAO), T. J. Gaetz (SAO), W. P. Blair (JHU), P. O. Slane (SAO)
We present initial results from two Chandra/ACIS observations of the Vela ``Bullet D'' region. The Bullet D region is a bright feature which protrudes beyond the main blast wave on the east side of the remnant. It has been suggested that the feature is a fragment of supernova ejecta which is just now pushing beyond the blast wave. An alternate explanation is that the feature is a ``break-out'' of the shock in which inhomogeneities in the ambient medium cause the shock to be non-spherical. We intend to use the imaging and spectral capabilities of the Chandra/ACIS instrument to distinguish between these competing explanations.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: plucinsky@cfa.harvard.edu