Discovery of optical emission from the supernova remnant G108.2-0.6 and its atomic environment

Abstract

We report the first detection of optical emission from the shell-type Galactic supernova remnant (SNR) G108.2$-$0.6. We obtained H$\alpha$ images and long-slit spectra using the 1.5-m RTT150 telescope to examine the morphological and spectral characteristics of the SNR. We detected several filaments along its north and south regions, which is consistent with its SNR nature. The spectra exhibit [SII]/H$\alpha$ ratios in the range of 0.4$-$1.1, indicating emission from shock-heated gas. The oxygen doublet emission lines [OI]$\lambda$6300, $\lambda$6363 detected in the south region also support the indicator of the presence of shocks. We estimate the electron density using the [SII] 6716/6731 ratio ranging from 15 to 1800 cm${}^{-3}$. The spectra show a relatively low shock velocity of $V_{\mathrm{s}}$ $\sim$ 80 km s${}^{-1}$ with the pre-shock cloud density of $n_{\mathrm{c}}$ $\sim$18$-$57 cm${}^{-3}$. The H$\alpha$/H$\beta$ ratios show significant variation across the observed regions with extinction $E(B-V)$ ranging from 0.22 to 1.65. We also analyzed the archival HI data and estimated the kinematic distance to the SNR of $\sim$0.8 kpc and dynamical age as $\sim$70$\pm$10 kyr of G108.2$-$0.6.

Comments: 11 pages, 7 figures; Accepted for publication in MNRAS