XMM-Newton observations of M 87 and its X-ray halo

¹ Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik, 85748 Garching, Germany
² CEA Saclay, Service d'Astrophysique, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
³ Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
⁴ Istituto di Fisica Cosmica, Via Bassini 15, 20133 Milano, Italy
⁵ Department of Physics, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TL, UK
⁶ Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics, Code 660, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
⁷ SOC, VILSPA-ESA, PO Box/Apartado 50727, 28080 Madrid, Spain
⁸ Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St Mary, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6NT, UK
⁹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
¹⁰ NIS-2, MS D436, Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA

H. Böhringer

Received: 2 October 2000
Accepted: 2 November 2000

Abstract

We report performance verification observations of the giant elliptical galaxy M 87 in the Virgo Cluster with the MOS, pn, and optical monitor instruments on board of XMM-Newton. With the energy sensitive imaging instruments MOS and pn we obtain the first spatially constrained X-ray spectra of the nucleus and the jet of the galaxy. The good photon statistics of the pn and MOS allow a detailed analysis of the radial temperature and abundance distribution of 6 elements. The data provide no indication of a multi-temperature structure for radii 2'. An apparent sharp metal abundance drop deduced for the regions inside this radius is probably due to resonant line scattering.