A multiwavelength study of the eridanus soft X-ray enhancement

Abstract

We present soft X-ray, N_H, and IR maps of the Eridanus soft X-ray enhancement. Soft X-ray maps from the HEAO 1 A-2 LED experiment, processed with a maximum entropy method (MEM) algorithm, show that the enhancement consists of two distinct components: a large hook-shaped component and a small circular component at different temperatures. Both of these are located in "holes" in the IR emission, and they correspond to N_H features at very different velocities. The dust surrounding the X-ray enhancements appears to be associated with several high-latitude molecular clouds, which allow us to obtain a probable distance of ~130 pc to the near edge of the main enhancement. The total power emitted by the hot gas is then ~10³⁵-10³⁶ ergs/s⁻¹. We consider alternative interpretations of these objects as adiabatic supernova remnants or as stellar wind bubbles and conclude that they are more likely to be stellar wind bubbles, possibly reheated by a SN explosion in the case of the main, hook-shaped object.