New optical filamentary structures in Pegasus

¹ University of Crete, Physics Department, PO Box 2208, 710 03 Heraklion, Crete, Greece
² Max-Planck Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstrasse, 85740 Garching, Germany

Corresponding author: P. Boumis, ptb@astro.noa.gr

Received: 1 July 2002
Accepted: 10 September 2002

Abstract

Deep Hα+[N ii] CCD images have been obtained in the area of the Pegasus Constellation. The resulting mosaic covers an extent of ~ and filamentary and diffuse emission was discovered. Several long filaments (up to ~1°) are found within the field, while diffuse emission is present mainly in the central and northern areas. The filaments show variations in intensity along their extent suggesting inhomogeneous interstellar clouds. Faint soft X–ray emission was also detected in the ROSAT All–Sky Survey. It is mainly concentrated in the central areas of our field and overlaps the optical emission. The low ionization images of [S ii] of selected areas mainly show faint diffuse emission, while in the medium ionization images of [O iii] diffuse and faint filamentary structures are present. Spectrophotometric observations were performed on the brightest filaments and indicate emission from photoionized or shock–heated gas. The sulfur line ratios indicate electron densities below ~600 cm^-3, while the absolute Hα emission lies in the range of  erg s^-1 cm^-2 arcsec^-2. The detected optical line emission could be part of a single or multiple supernova explosions.