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R. N. M. Williams (U. Massachusetts), Y.-H. Chu (U. Illinois), Q. D. Wang (U. Massachusetts)
The Large Magellanic Cloud supernova remnant (SNR) N49 is unusual in several respects. It is the result of an islotated progenitor within a cloudy interstellar medium (Shull et al. 1985, MNRAS, 212, 799) and contains a soft gamma-ray repeater (SGR 0525-66) coincident with a bright spot in X-rays (e.g. Kaplan et al. 2001, ApJ, 556, 399). Observations reveal an asymmetrical structure possibly resulting from a collision with (or expansion outward from) a nearby molecular cloud.
We will present recently obtained Hubble Space Telescope images of N49 in the emission lines of H\alpha, [\ion{S}{2}] and [\ion{O}{3}], obtained with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. Comparisons between images in different lines reveals some details of the shock structure, and of the physical conditions in various regions of the SNR. We also show comparisons of the morphologies at optical, X-ray and radio wavelengths, as well as additional velocity data obtained through echelle spectroscopy.
The authors gratefuly acknowledge support from STScI and the University of Massachusetts.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: rosanina@hnr.astro.umass.edu