Structure of the interstellar medium around Cas A
Abstract
We present a three-year series of observations at 24 microns with the Spitzer Space Telescope of the interstellar material in a 200 x 200 arcmin square area centered on Cassiopeia A. Interstellar dust heated by the outward light pulse from the supernova explosion emits in the form of compact, moving features. Their sequential outward movements allow us to study the complicated three-dimensional structure of the interstellar medium (ISM) behind and near Cassiopeia A. The ISM consists of sheets and filaments, with many structures on a scale of a parsec or less. The spatial power spectrum of the ISM appears to be similar to that of fractals with a spectral index of 3.5. The filling factor for the small structures above the spatial wavenumber k ~ 0.5 cycles/pc is only ~ 0.4%.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0801.3267,
title = {Structure of the interstellar medium around Cas A},
author = {Yeunjin Kim and G. H. Rieke and O. Krause and K. Misselt and R. Indebetouw and K. E. Johnson},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0801.3267},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
29 pages including 10 figures; accepted by The Astrophysical Journal