Mapping the ISM with Infrared Echoes from Cas A

Details Mapping the ISM with Infrared Echoes from Cas A Mapping the ISM with Infrared Echoes from Cas A

Mar 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008sptz.prop50484r&link_type=abstract

Spitzer Proposal ID #50484

Computer Science

Scientific paper

Infrared echoes were discovered around the supernova remnant Cas A during Spitzer in-orbit checkout. These echoes result when the light pulse from the supernova explosion encounters the surrounding interstellar medium (ISM) and scatters and heats it. The infrared echoes are more easily interpreted than the scattered ones because the emission is isotropic and gives a direct measure of the structure of the ISM. The system of echoes around Cas A extends to 3 degrees diameter, so the MIPS 24 micron beam of 6 arcsec allows probing the echoes at high resolution. We have followed these echoes throughout the mission (using a combination of GTO, GO, and DD time). A preliminary analysis of the results has yielded the first detailed three dimensional map if the ISM (resolution ~ 0.1 pc on the sky corresponding to the beam size, and also ~ 0.1 pc into the sky corresponding to the Spitzer visit time intervals). We have also used the echoes to learn about the supernova itself. We request 14.9 hours to complete tracking the echoes. We will obtain a full map of the echo region to improve our ability to distinguish the echoes from the emission of the general ISM and to extend our images to the lowest possible spatial frequencies. We will also obtain three sets of smaller-scale images at selected regions to continue tracking the small-scale structures and also to improve our measurements of the supernova light curve.

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