1999A&A...343..373T

We present X-ray observations of the interacting pair of galaxies NGC 4410a/b with the ROSAT HRI and PSPC. The ROSAT HRI images reveal a point-like source corresponding to NGC 4410a and an X-ray halo, extending 10" from the nucleus toward the southeast. The halo emission accounts for ∼1/3 (L_X=1.3x10⁴¹erg/s in the 0.1-2.4keV ROSAT band) of the total X-ray emission detected from NGC 4410a. The spectrum of the total X-ray emission from NGC 4410a can be fitted at best with a two-component emission model, combining a Raymond-Smith spectrum with T=10⁷K and a power-law spectrum (Γ=2.2). The fraction of the thermal component to the total flux within this model is 35%, supporting the results of the HRI observation. The total unresolved X-ray luminosity detected with the PSPC amounts to 4x10⁴¹erg/s in the ROSAT PSPC band (for D=97Mpc). A preferable explanation might be the interaction between the two galaxies causing a circumnuclear starburst around the active nucleus in the peculiar late type Sab galaxy NGC 4410a. As a cumulative effect of exploding stars a superbubble forms a bipolar outflow from the galactic disk with an expansion time of ∼8Myr. The central source injects mechanical energy at a constant rate of a few times 10⁴²erg/s into the superbubble. A HST WFPC2 image decovers that NGC 4410a is seen almost face-on so that only the approaching outflow is visible. The HRI contours reveal an elongation of this outflow indicative for a faint X-ray ridge below the detection limit (L_X≤1.4x10³⁹erg/s) toward the neighbouring galaxy NGC 4410b caused by its tidal interaction. NGC 4410b houses only a faint X-ray source (L_X≤3.8x10³⁹erg/s).