Chandra observations of diffuse X-rays from the Sagittarius B2 cloud

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 (K alpha) and 7.06 keV (K beta), deep iron K-edge at 7.11 keV, and large photoelectric absorption at low energy. The absorption-corrected X-ray luminosity is similar to 1 x 10(35) 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.