Suzaku observations of early-type galaxies

The metal abundances in the hot X-ray emitting interstellar medium (ISM) of early-type galaxies give us important information about the present metal supply into the ISM through supernovae (SNe) Ia and stellar mass loss. In addition, O and Mg abundances should reflect the stellar metallicity and enable us to directly look into the formation history of these galaxies. The XIS instrument onboard the Suzaku satellite has an improved line spread function due to a very small low-pulse-height tail below 1 keV coupled with a very low background.