2004•The Astrophysical JournalOpen access
A Million Second Chandra View of Cassiopeia A
Una Hwang, J. M. Laming, Carles Badenes, Fred Berendse, John M. Blondin, Denis F. Cioffi, Tracey DeLaney, Daniel Dewey, Robert A. Fesen, Kathryn A. Flanagan, Chris L. Fryer, Parviz Ghavamian, John P. Hughes, Jon A. Morse, Paul P. Plucinsky, Robert Petre, M. Pohl, L. Rudnick, Ravi Sankrit, Patrick Slane, Randall K. Smith, Jacco Vink, Jessica S. Warren
Open full text 265 citations
Abstract
We introduce a million second observation of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A with the Chandra X-Ray Observatory . The bipolar structure of the Si-rich ejecta (northeast jet and southwest counterpart) is clearly evident in the new images, and their chemical similarity is confirmed by their spectra. These are most likely due to jets of ejecta as opposed to cavities in the circumstellar medium, since we can reject simple models for the latter. The properties of these jets and the Fe-rich ejecta will provide clues to the explosion of Cas A.
Open-access reader