ASCA OBSERVATIONS OF THE ANTENNAE

We analyse X-ray data from the ASCA satellite for the galaxies NGC 403 8/9 (also known as 'the Antennae'), and find emission from both galaxi es, At least two spectral components are required to describe the over all emission from these galaxies: thermal emission from a plasma at 0. 8 keV, and a component at higher energies. The hot gas contributes abo ut half of the Bur in the 0.5- to 6-keV band. If the column density to the higher energy component is > 2 x 10(21) cm(-2) then the fitted ab undance in the hot gas component is less than 0.2 times solar, This lo w abundance is not expected for the hot interstellar medium in NGC 403 8/9 in which supernovae and star formation (expected to enrich and hea t the gas) are ongoing. We do not detect any spatial variations in the spectrum. We relate these findings to data obtained by other X-ray sa tellites (Einstein, ROSAT) for this interacting galaxy pair.