Chandra X-ray Observatory detection of extended X-ray emission from the planetary nebula BD+30◦3639
Also archived in: arXiv: astro-ph/0010167 v1 9 Oct 2000 The authors wish to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of the Chandra X-ray Observatory Project and, in particular, the contributions made to the Project by the staff of the Chandra X-ray Center. Support for this research was provided by a NASA/Chandra grant to RIT. N.S. also thanks the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation. F. Roddier & C. Roddier kindly provided the portion of Figure 1 containing the HST and Gemini adaptive optics images of BD+ 30◦3639. R. Sahai kindly provided his fully reduced HST image of BD+ 30◦3639.ISSN:1538-4365 Note: imported from RIT’s Digital Media Library running on DSpace to RIT Scholar Works in February 2014.
Abstract
We report the detection of well resolved, extended X-ray emission from the young planetary nebula BD +30◦ 3639 using the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS) aboard the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The X-ray emission from BD +30◦3639 appears to lie within, but is concentrated to one side of, the interior of the shell of ionized gas seen in high-resolution optical and IR images. The relatively low X-ray temperature (Tx~3×10^6 K) and asymmetric morphology of the X-ray emission suggests that conduction fronts are present and/or mixing of shock-heated and photoionized gas has occurred and, furthermore, hints at the presence of magnetic fields. The ACIS spectrum suggests that the X-ray emitting region is enriched in the products of helium burning. Our detection of extended X-ray emission from BD +30◦3639 demonstrates the power and utility of Chandra imaging as applied to the study of planetary nebulae (Refer to PDF file for exact formulas).
