Supernova Remnant 1987A: High Resolution Images and Spectrum from Chandra Observations

Abstract

We report on the morphological and spectral evolution of SNR 1987A from the monitoring observations with the Chandra/ACIS. As of 2005, the X-ray-bright lobes are continuously brightening and expanding all around the ring. The softening of the overall X-ray spectrum also continues. The X-ray lightcurve is particularly remarkable: i.e., the recent soft X-ray flux increase rate is significantly deviating from the model which successfully fits the earlier data, indicating even faster flux increase rate since early 2004 (day ~6200). We also report results from high resolution spectral analysis with deep Chandra/LETG observations. The high resolution X-ray line emission features unambiguously reveal that the X-ray emission of SNR 1987A is originating primarily from a "disk" along the inner ring rather than from a spherical shell. We present the ionization structures, elemental abundances, and the shock velocities of the X-ray emitting plasma.