  We use a 54.4 ks Chandra observation to study nuclear outflow activity in
NGC4552 (M89), an elliptical galaxy in the Virgo Cluster. Chandra images in the
0.5-2 keV band show two ring-like features ~1.7 kpc in diameter in the core of
NGC4552, as reported previously by Filho et al. We use spherically symmetric
point explosion shock models to argue that the shape of the surface brightness
profile across the rims of the rings and the temperature of hot gas in the
rings are consistent with a Mach 1.7 shock carrying mean mechanical power
L_shock ~ 3 x 10^{41} ergs/s produced by a ~1.4 x 10^{55} ergs nuclear outburst
\~1 - 2 Myr ago. We find the gas temperature in the central ~100 pc of the
galaxy to be 1.0 +/- 0.2 keV, hotter than elsewhere in the galaxy, suggesting
that we may be observing directly the reheating of the galaxy ISM by the
outburst.

Astrophysics