Spitzer observations of the Eagle nebula (M16) reveal the presence of a large (8pc diameter) shell of dust heated to anomalously high temperatures. Modeling ofdust excitation shows that the shell emission cannot be powered by the clusterUV radiation but that it can be accounted for by collisionally heated dust in ayoung (a few 1000 yrs) supernova remnant. We have re-analyzed deep Chandraobservations that show diffuse emission consistent with this hypothesis, butalso with galactic ridge emission. We propose a 50 ksec XMM observation to probethe spatial extent of the diffuse X-ray emission beyond the Spitzer shell.Absence of emission outside of this shell will strongly support the supernovaremnant interpretation
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2009-10-10T23:11:03Z/2009-10-11T14:56:22Z
Version
17.56_20190403_1200
Mission Description
The European Space Agencys (ESA) X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) was launched by an Ariane 504 on December 10th 1999. XMM-Newton is ESAs second cornerstone of the Horizon 2000 Science Programme. It carries 3 high throughput X-ray telescopes with an unprecedented effective area, and an optical monitor, the first flown on a X-ray observatory. The large collecting area and ability to make long uninterrupted exposures provide highly sensitive observations. Since Earths atmosphere blocks out all X-rays, only a telescope in space can detect and study celestial X-ray sources. The XMM-Newton mission is helping scientists to solve a number of cosmic mysteries, ranging from the enigmatic black holes to the origins of the Universe itself. Observing time on XMM-Newton is being made available to the scientific community, applying for observational periods on a competitive basis.
European Space Agency, Dr Francois Boulanger, 2010, 'Is the Eagle Nebula powered by a hidden supernova remnant questionMark', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-0bnaqbm
