Chandra Observations of SNR 1987A

Abstract

We report on the results of our monitoring program of the X-ray remnant of supernova 1987A with the {\it Chandra X-Ray Observatory}. We have performed two new observations during the {\it Chandra} Cycle 3 period, bringing the total to six monitoring observations over the past three years. These six observations provide a detailed time history of the birth of a new supernova remnant in X-rays. The high angular resolution images indicate that soft X-ray bright knots are associated with the optical spots, while hard X-ray features are better correlated with radio images. We interpret this in terms of a model in which fast shocks propagating through the circumstellar HII region produce the hard X-ray and radio emission, while the soft X-ray and optical emission arise in slower shocks entering into dense knots in the circumstellar inner ring. New observations begin to show changes in the morphology that may herald a new stage in the development of this incipient supernova remnant. The observed X-ray fluxes increase by nearly a factor of three over the last 30 months. The X-ray remnant is expanding at a velocity of $\sim$5000 km s${}^{-1}$.

8 pages, 6 figures, 2 color figures, To appear in AdSpR (Proceedings 34th COSPAR Synposium E1.4 "High Energy Studies of Supernova Remnants and Neutron stars" For high resolution color figures contact [email protected]

References in corpus (9)

• Mitigating Charge Transfer Inefficiency in the Chandra X-ray Observatory's ACIS Instrument
• The Line Emission from the Circumstellar Gas Around SN 1987A
• The X-ray Remnant of SN1987A
• Improvement of the Spatial Resolution of the ACIS Using Split Pixel Events
• Modeling Charge Transfer Inefficiency in the Chandra Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer
• Evolution of the Radio Remnant of SN 1987A: 1990 -- 2001
• Monitoring the Evolution of the X-ray Remnant of SN 1987A
• The X-ray Spectrum of Supernova Remnant 1987A
• HST Spectroscopy of Spot 1 on the Circumstellar Ring of SN 1987A

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Spinning down newborn neutron stars: nonlinear development of the r-mode instability
• A Chandra View of The Morphological And Spectral Evolution of Supernova Remnant 1987A
• Limits from the Hubble Space Telescope on a Point Source in SN 1987A
• Where Are All The Fallback Disks? Constraints on Propeller Systems
• High Resolution mid-Infrared Imaging of SN 1987A
• High-cadence Dispersed Spectral Analysis of Supernova Remnant 1987A