Astron. Astrophys. 344, 289-294 (1999)

A comparison of the X-ray line and continuum morphology of Cassiopeia A

Jacco Vink ¹, M. ConcettaMaccarone ², Jelle S. Kaastra ¹, Teresa Mineo ², Johan A.M. Bleeker ¹, Andrea Preite-Martinez ³ and Hans Bloemen <sup>1

1</sup> SRON Laboratory for Space Research, Sorbonnelaan 2, 3584 CA Utrecht, The Netherlands
² Istituto di Fisica Cosmica ed Applicazioni all'Informatica, CNR, Via U. La Malfa 153, I-90146 Palermo, Italy
³ Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale, Area di Ricerca di Tor Vergata, Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 133, Roma, Italy

Received 22 October 1998 / Accepted 22 January 1999

Abstract

We present deconvolved narrow band images of Cas A as observed by the MECS instrument on the BeppoSAX X-ray satellite. The images show that Cas A has different morphologies in the continuum and line bands. This difference points towards a synchrotron origin for part of the X-ray continuum of Cas A. Going to the hardest continuum band we find that the emission is coming predominantly from the Western region, making this the most likely location for the hard X-ray tail seen with instruments on CGRO (OSSE), BeppoSAX (PDS) and RXTE (HEXTE).

Key words: X-rays: ISM ISM: supernova remnants ISM: cosmic rays ISM: individual objects: Cas A

Send offprint requests to: J. Vink (J.Vink@sron.nl)

SIMBAD Objects

Contents

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Observations and analysis
  • 2.1. The data
  • 2.2. Lucy-Richardson deconvolution
  • 2.3. Comparison with previous measurements
• 3. Results
• 4. Conclusion
• Acknowledgements
• References

© European Southern Observatory (ESO) 1999

Online publication: March 10, 1999
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