A MULTIWAVELENGTH STUDY OF THE ERIDANUS SOFT-X-RAY ENHANCEMENT

We present soft X-ray, N(H), and IR maps of the Eridanus soft X-ray enhancement. Soft X-ray maps from the HEAO 1 A-2 LED experiment, processed with a maximum entropy method (MEM) algorithm, show that the enhancement consists of two distinct components: a large hook-shaped component and a small circular component at different temperatures. Both of these arc located in ''holes'' in the IR emission, and they correspond to N(H) features at very different velocities. The dust surrounding the X-ray enhancements appears to be associated with several high-latitude molecular clouds, which allow us to obtain a probable distance of approximately 130 pc to the near edge of the main enhancement. The total power emitted by the hot gas is then approximately 10(35)-10(36) ergs s-1. We consider alternative interpretations of these objects as adiabatic supernova remnants or as stellar wind bubbles and conclude that they are more likely to be stellar wind bubbles, possibly reheated by a SN explosion in the case of the main, hook-shaped object.