A Comprehensive Study of the X-Ray Structure and Spectrum of IC 443
Abstract
This paper presents the results of a comprehensive study of the X-ray emission from the supernova remnant IC 443, using the solid state spectrometer, IPC, and high-resolution images of the Einstein Observatory, and the medium-energy detector of the HEAO 1 A-2 experiment. A soft X-ray appearance was observed, highly atypical of a supernova remnant in the adiabatic phase, with little correlation between X-ray and optical or radio features. The best-fit models of the low-energy X-ray spectrum of the brightest area of the remnant suggest either that the remnant has not yet attained ionization equilibrium or that the X-rays arise in a multiphase medium. Pronounced soft X-ray spectral differences across the remnant are accounted for by variations in absorption by an intervening molecular cloud. The analysis suggests that, despite the atypical X-ray appearance, the X-ray emission in IC 443 is probably confined to a thin (0.1 pc) shell.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- December 1988
- DOI:
- 10.1086/166922
- Bibcode:
- 1988ApJ...335..215P
- Keywords:
-
- Astronomical Spectroscopy;
- Supernova Remnants;
- X Ray Sources;
- H Ii Regions;
- Molecular Clouds;
- Spectrophotometry;
- Stellar Envelopes;
- Astrophysics;
- NEBULAE: INDIVIDUAL ALPHANUMERIC: IC 443;
- NEBULAE: SUPERNOVA REMNANTS;
- X-RAYS: SOURCES