Discovery of Variable Iron Fluorescence from Reflection Nebulae in the Galactic Center

On the basis of 3 years of deep observations of the Galactic center with the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, we report the discovery of changes in the intensities and morphologies of two hard X-ray nebulosities. The nebulosities are dominated by fluorescent iron emission and are coincident with molecular...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astrophysical journal 2007-02, Vol.656 (2), p.L69-L72
Main Authors: Muno, M. P, Baganoff, F. K, Brandt, W. N, Park, S, Morris, M. R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astronomy
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
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Summary:On the basis of 3 years of deep observations of the Galactic center with the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, we report the discovery of changes in the intensities and morphologies of two hard X-ray nebulosities. The nebulosities are dominated by fluorescent iron emission and are coincident with molecular clouds. The morphological changes are manifest on parsec scales, which requires that these iron features are scattered X-rays from a 2 or 3 year long outburst of a point source (either Sgr A super(*) or an X-ray binary) with a luminosity of at least 10 super(37) ergs s super(-1). The variability precludes the hypotheses that these nebulae either are produced by keV electrons bombarding molecular clouds or are iron-rich ejecta from supernovae. Moreover, the morphologies of the reflection nebulae implies that the dense regions of the clouds are filamentary, with widths of -0.3 pc and lengths of -2 pc.
ISSN:1538-4357
0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.1086/512236