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E. Kellogg, J. M. Hollis, J. Pedelty, R. Lyon (NASA-GSFC)
The R Aqr symbiotic binary system is understood to contain an M giant and a compact companion in an evolved stellar system of mass ~2-3 M\odot. We reported at HEAD 2000 on the discovery of x-ray jets 0.1 LY in extent using Chandra, whereas radio and UV jets have been discovered in past VLA and HST observations. The SW x-ray jet, 3.8 times fainter than the NE component, is a completely new phenomenon, with no known optical, UV nor radio counterpart. The skewed shape of the jets supports earlier observations of jet precession.
We report further on the morphology and x-ray spectra of jet and central components. An adaptively smoothed image of low surface brightness outer portions of the jet is presented. An x-ray spectrum analysis is presented with jet temperatures of ~.6\times 106~K. The spectrum of the central region surrounding the star appears to be hot gas at ~.1\times107~K, plus Fe~I~K\alpha emission, with a suggestion of K\alpha emission from other elements of similar atomic number, whose origin is yet to be explained.
We gratefully acknowledge support from NASA under grant #GO0-1062A and for EK from NASA contract # NAS8-39073.