A Deep Chandra Legacy Observation of the Nearby Grand Design Spiral M83
Abstract
With a high supernova rate, a starburst nucleus, and large numbers of high mass star clusters in the disk of the galaxy, M83 is a superb laboratory for understanding how the life cycle of stars and the interstellar medium interact to produce X-ray emission in normal galaxies. Here we report initial results of a set of ongoing deep Chandra ACIS observations of M83 that will ultimately have a total exposure of 750 ks. Our preliminary catalog, based on the first 160 ks of data, includes more than 180 sources, a number that will likely grow by a factor of 2 when the observations are complete. New sources include a new ultraluminous X-ray source that has appeared in an interarm region since the earlier Chandra observations in 2001, as well as the X-ray counterpart to the SN 1957D. Many of the sources are coincident with supernova remnant candidates identified from new interference filter images of M83 from Magellan/IMACS. We will discuss how we intend to relate the X-ray properties of the supernova remnants, X-ray binaries, and diffuse X-ray emission to the local environment, using the underlying stellar populations and/or distance from features like the spiral arms to constrain the progenitors of the sources.
We gratefully acknowledge support for this project by NASA through grant GO1-12115A.- Publication:
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American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #218
- Pub Date:
- May 2011
- Bibcode:
- 2011AAS...21822812L