X‐ray Observations of the Vela Supernova Remnant Ejecta Fragments

The Vela Supernova remnant (SNR) is one of the nearest SNRs. At an estimated distance of similar to 250 pc, it is likely just beyond the edge of the local bubble and there seems to be no direct evidence of interaction with the bubble. The SNR is in a complex environment, though. It is notably brighter and more sharply defined to the east and north, but much fainter and less ordered in the west and south. The age of the SNR is estimated to be similar to 11000 years, based on the spin-down rate of its associated pulsar, but ages as large as 20000-30000 years have also been argued. This SNR is also notable for a number of protrusions extending well beyond its rim, which were suggested to be fragments of ejecta from the supernova explosion. X-ray spectroscopy has since confirmed several of these protrusions to indeed be strongly enriched with ejecta. We present initial results based on the XMM-Newton and Suzaku X-ray observations of two these ejecta fragments.