2001ApJ...558..687M

We present the first Chandra results of the giant molecular cloud Sagittarius B2 (Sgr B2), located about 100 pc away from the Galactic center. Diffuse X-rays are clearly separated from one-and-a-half-dozen resolved point sources. The X-ray spectrum exhibits pronounced iron K-shell transition lines at 6.40 keV (Kα) and 7.06 keV (Kβ), deep iron K-edge at 7.11 keV, and large photoelectric absorption at low energy. The absorption-corrected X-ray luminosity is ∼1x10³⁵ ergs.s^–1, 2 orders of magnitude larger than the integrated luminosity of all the resolved point sources. The diffuse X-rays come mainly from the southwest half of the cloud with a concave shape pointing to the Galactic center direction. These results strongly support the ASCA model that Sgr B2 is irradiated by an X-ray source at the Galactic center side.