Diffuse X-ray emission from the Magellanic Clouds ( MCs ) is studied by using all the archival data of pointed ROSAT Position Sensitive Proportional Counter ( PSPC ) observations .
For this purpose , contributions from the point and point-like sources in the ROSAT High Resolution Imager ( HRI ) and PSPC source catalogues are eliminated and periods of high solar activity are excluded .
The spectral analysis yielded characteristic temperatures of 10 ^ { 6 } -10 ^ { 7 } K for the hot thin plasma of the ISM which extends over the whole Large Magellanic Cloud ( LMC ) and the Small Magellanic Cloud ( SMC ) .
The total unabsorbed luminosity in the 0.1 – 2.4 keV band within the observed area amounts to 3.2 \times 10 ^ { 38 } erg s ^ { -1 } in the LMC and 1.1 \times 10 ^ { 37 } erg s ^ { -1 } in the SMC , each with an uncertainty of \sim - 40 % , +100 % .
The X-ray luminosity of the LMC is comparable to that of other nearby galaxies with pronounced star formation .
In the LMC , hot regions were found especially around the supergiant shell ( SGS ) LMC 4 and in the field covering SGS LMC 2 and LMC 3 .
Highest temperatures for the SMC were derived in the southwestern part of the galaxy .
The diffuse X-ray emission is most likely a superposition of the emission from the hot gas in the interior of shells and supershells as well as from the halo of these galaxies .