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J.L. Carlin (U. of Virginia, CTIO REU), R.C. Smith (CTIO)
In 1995, six knots of X-ray emission were identified which appear to be associated with the Vela supernova remnant, but are outside the SNR's roughly spherical shell (Aschenbach et al 1995). It has been suggested that this X-ray emission arises from ejecta from the supernova event (Miyata et al 2001, Wang & Chevalier 2002). We studied the optical characteristics of one of these ``bullets," known as Vela bullet C, using images obtained with the 0.9m Curtis-Schmidt telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). We observed the region of X-ray emission with narrow-band H-alpha, [O III], and [S II] filters. Comparison of relative strengths and positions of filaments imaged in these emission lines characterize the regions as radiative shocks of the interstellar medium. We also discovered a Balmer-dominated filament extending well beyond the leading edge of the radiative shock front, which perhaps traces a pre-existing bubble in the interstellar medium. This research was carried out as part of the National Science Foundation's 2002 Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at CTIO in La Serena, Chile.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: jc4qn@virginia.edu
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34, #4
© 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.