Chandra Observations of the X - ray Environs of SN 1998 bw / GRB 980425

We report X-ray studies of the environs of SN 1998bw and GRB 980425 using the Chandra X-Ray Observatory 1281 days after the GRB. Eight X-ray point sources were localized, three and five each in the original error boxes S1 and S2 assigned for variable X-ray counterparts to the GRB by BeppoSAX. The sum of the discrete X-ray sources plus continuous emission in S2 observed by CXO on day 1281 is within a factor of 1.5 of the maximum and the upper limits seen by BeppoSAX. We conclude that S2 is the sum of several variable sources that have not disappeared, and therefore is not associated with the GRB. Within S1, clear evidence is seen for a decline of approximately a factor of 12 between day 200 and day 1281. One of the sources in S1, S1a, is coincident with the well-determined radio location of SN 1998bw, and is certainly the remnant of that explosion. The NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, NSSTC, SD-50, 320 Sparkman Dr., Huntsville, AL 35805, USA Universities Space Research Association, NSSTC, SD-50, 320 Sparkman Dr., Huntsville, AL 35805, USA Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester,University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford, CA 94305, USA Institute for Advanced Study, Olden Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA; Chandra Fellow Astronomical Institute “Anton Pannekoek”and Center for High Energy Astrophysics, University of Amsterdam, Kruislaan 403, 1098 SJ Amsterdam, NL INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Via G.B. Tiepolo 11, I-34131 Trieste, I ASI Science Data Center, c/o ESRIN, Via G. Galilei, I-00044 Frascati, I SLAC-PUB-10545 Work Supported in part by the Department of Energy Contract DE-AC03-76SF00515 Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94309 astro-ph/0401184