HETG spectral-imaging of SN 1987A
Daniel Dewey (MIT Kavli Institute) , S. Zhekov (U Colorado), C.R. Canizares (MKI), R. McCray (U Colorado)
We have completed taking deep, high-resolution observations of SN 1987A at 20 years after its explosion with Chandra's grating spectrometers. In March-April of 2007 HETG observations totaling 355 ks were taken as part of the HETG GTO program. Just recently in the Fall of 2007, deep complementary LETG observations (McCray, P.I.) were taken as well; with the full set of deep line-images we can do detailed fitting of spatial-velocity-ionization models of the SN 1987A emission. Presented here are the HETG data which give the highest-resolution X-ray spectra of SN1987A to date. High signal-to-noise is achieved in the 6A to 20A bandpass which includes the H-like and He-like lines of Si, Mg, Ne, as well as bright Fe XVII lines and lines of O VIII. Using simple 3D geometric models, including Doppler velocity effects, we can fit the spectral-images of individual lines to obtain information relevant to the CSM shock interactions taking place in the SN 1987A system.