A new investigation of the supernova remnant ( SNR ) ( catalog N157B ) was carried out with the Australia Telescope Compact Array .
Radio continuum images of the entire ( catalog 30 Doradus ) region have been made at 3.5 and 6 cm wavelength with a resolution of \sim 2″ .
These data allow a high resolution study of the spectral index distribution and polarization properties of both N157B and the nearby ( catalog 30 Doradus ) nebula ( the latter will be reported in a subsequent paper ) .
N157B is an extended Crab–type SNR which may be beginning the transition to a composite remnant .
There is little apparent fine structure and the brightest radio region is several parsecs from the probable position of the X–ray pulsar .
The SNR has a radio spectral index of - 0.19 and is significantly polarized at 3.5 cm but not at longer wavelengths .