Chandra Observations of The Antennae Galaxies (NGC 4038/39)

Abstract

A deep (∼ 70ks) Chandra ACIS pointing at the merging system NGC 4038/39 gives us an exceptional detailed view of its X-ray emission and demonstrates the capabilities of Chandra 's sub-arcsecond resolution. We detect an extraordinarily luminous population of pointlike sources, that may suggest 10-100 M ⊙ Black Hole counterparts. We also detect a luminous hot ISM, with features ranging to large scale outflows to hot superbubbles.