Chandra Early-type Galaxy Atlas

Abstract

The hot interstellar medium (ISM) in early-type galaxies (ETGs) plays a crucial role in understanding their formation and evolution. The structural features of the hot gas identified by Chandra observations point to key evolutionary mechanisms, (e.g., active galactic nuclei, AGN, and stellar feedback, merging history). In our Chandra Galaxy Atlas (CGA) project, taking full advantage of the Chandra capabilities, we systematically analyzed the archival Chandra data of 70 ETGs and produced uniform data products for the hot gas properties. The primary data products are spatially resolved 2D spectral maps of the hot gas from individual galaxies. We emphasize that new features can be identified in the spectral maps that are not readily visible in the surface brightness maps. The high-level images can be viewed at the dedicated CGA website, and the CGA data products can be downloaded to compare with data at other wavelengths and to perform further analyses. Using our data products, we address a few focused science topics.