CaltechAUTHORS
Published December 10, 2010 | Version Published
Journal Article Open

SPITZER observations of dust destruction in the Puppis A supernova remnant

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon University of Maryland, Baltimore County
  • 2. ROR icon Goddard Space Flight Center
  • 3. ROR icon Johns Hopkins University
  • 4. ROR icon Space Telescope Science Institute
  • 5. ROR icon California Institute of Technology
  • 6. ROR icon Ames Research Center
  • 7. ROR icon Middlebury College

Abstract

The interaction of the Puppis A supernova remnant (SNR) with a neighboring molecular cloud provides a unique opportunity to measure the amount of grain destruction in an SNR shock. Spitzer Space Telescope MIPS imaging of the entire SNR at 24, 70, and 160 μm shows an extremely good correlation with X-ray emission, indicating that the SNR's IR radiation is dominated by the thermal emission of swept-up interstellar dust, collisionally heated by the hot shocked gas. Spitzer IRS spectral observations targeted both the Bright Eastern Knot (BEK) of the SNR where a small cloud has been engulfed by the supernova blast wave and outlying portions of the associated molecular cloud that are yet to be hit by the shock front. Modeling the spectra from both regions reveals the composition and the grain size distribution of the interstellar dust, both in front of and behind the SNR shock front. The comparison shows that the ubiquitous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons of the interstellar medium are destroyed within the BEK, along with nearly 25% of the mass of graphite and silicate dust grains.

Additional Information

© 2010 American Astronomical Society. Received 2010 August 5; accepted 2010 September 30; published 2010 November 19. This work is based on observations made with the Spitzer Space Telescope, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under a contract with NASA. Support for this work was provided by NASA. We acknowledge the use of NASA's SkyView facility (http://skyview.gsfc.nasa.gov) located at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. This research has made use of NASA's Astrophysics Data System Bibliographic Services. P.F.W. acknowledges additional funding from the NSF through grant AST- 0908566.

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Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
21730
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20110112-111715678

Funding

NASA
NSF
AST-0908566

Dates

Created
2011-01-12
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2021-11-09
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