A multiwavelength investigation of the supernova remnant IC 443.

Abstract

Multiwavelength observations of the supernova remnant IC 443 at radio, infrared, optical, ultraviolet, and X-ray wavelengths are presented. This morphological study of IC 443 presents a detailed picture of an adolescent supernova remnant in a multiphase interstellar medium. Radio observations show that better than 80 percent of the continuum emission at 18 cm is in a large-scale (greater than 18 arcmin) component. Decomposition of the infrared data shows that radiatively heated dust, shocked blackbody dust emission, and infrared line emission are all important components of the observed IRAS fluxes. The morphology of the IC 443 region is consistent with a supernova blast in an interstellar medium with a nonuniform distribution of clouds. The bright northeast rim and the great extent of the remnant to the southwest are most easily explained by a cloud filling factor which is greatest in the northeast and falls off toward the southwest.