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[24.22] Ejecta in the Oxygen-Rich SNR G292.0+1.8

P. F. Winkler (Middlebury Coll.), K. S. Long (STSci)

New optical images of the young supernova remnant (SNR) G292.0+1.8, obtained from the 0.9-m telescope at CTIO, show a far more extensive network of filaments than previous data suggest. Images in [O III] show filaments distributed throughout much of the 8 arcmin diameter shell seen in X-ray and radio images. Most of the outer filaments have a radial, pencil-like morphology that is very suggestive of Rayleigh-Tayor fingers. Simulations of core-collapse supernovae predict the development of such fingers, but they have never before been so clearly observed in a young SNR. In addition to the extensive [O III] filaments, we have detected three small complexes of filaments that show [S II] emission along with the oxygen lines. None of the filaments, with or without [S II], show any evidence for hydrogen, so all must be composed of pure supernova ejecta. The [S II] filaments provide the first evidence for products of oxygen burning in the ejecta from the event that gave rise to G292.0+1.8.

This research has been funded primarily by the National Science Foundation through grant AST-0307613.

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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 #3
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.