X-ray Halo and X-ray Plume of M86

GT M86 is a large elliptical galaxy near the center of the Virgo cluster. Xrayobservations have revealed a large halo of hot gas, and a bright 10 arcmin longplume of hot gas apparently driven out by ram pressure forces and trailingbehind the galaxy as it moves through the even hotter IGM in the center of thecluster. The gas density in the plume is high enough to support cooling flowswhich may occur in more or less dense clumps. Spatially resolved Xrayspectroscopy of M86 and the plume region is proposed to measure the temperaturedistribution in the Xray halo, to identify cooling flow clumps, to correlatethe hot gas morphology with H alpha filaments found within the plume and nearthe center of M86, and to look for signs of interaction with the Virgo IGM. truncated!, Please see actual data for full text [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]