We analyzed two XMM-Newton observations in the direction of the high density , high latitude , neutral hydrogen cloud MBM20 and of a nearby low density region that we called the Eridanus hole .
The cloud MBM20 is at a distance evaluated between 100 and 200 pc from the Sun and its density is sufficiently high to shield about 75 % of the foreground emission in the 3/4 keV energy band .
The combination of the two observations makes possible the separation between foreground component , due to the Local Bubble and possibly charge exhange within the solar system , and the background one , due primary to the Galactic halo and unidentified point sources .
The two observations are in good agreement with each other and with ROSAT observations of the same part of the sky and the O VII and O VIII intensities are O VII = 3.89 \pm 0.56 \textrm { ~ { } photons~ { } cm } ^ { -2 } \textrm { ~ { } s } ^ { -1 } \textrm { ~ { } sr } ^ { -1 } , O VIII = 0.68 \pm 0.24 \textrm { ~ { } photons~ { } cm } ^ { -2 } \textrm { ~ { } s } ^ { -1 } \textrm { ~ { } sr } ^ { -1 } for MBM20 and O VII = 7.26 \pm 0.34 \textrm { ~ { } photons~ { } cm } ^ { -2 } \textrm { ~ { } s } ^ { -1 } \textrm { ~ { } sr } ^ { -1 } , O VIII = 1.63 \pm 0.17 \textrm { photons~ { } cm } ^ { -2 } \textrm { ~ { } s } ^ { -1 } \textrm { ~ { } sr } ^ { -1 } for the Eridanus hole .

The spectra are in agreement with a simple three component model , one unabsorbed and one absorbed plasma component , and a power law , due unresolved distant point sources .
Assuming that the two plasma components are in thermal equilibrium we obtain a temperature of 0.096 keV for the foreground component and 0.197 keV for the background one .
Assuming the foreground component is due solely to Local Bubble emission we obtain a lower and upper limit for the plasma density of 0.0079 cm ^ { -3 } and 0.0095 cm ^ { -3 } and limits of 16,200 cm ^ { -3 } K and 19,500 cm ^ { -3 } K for the plasma pressure , in good agreement with theoretical predictions .
Similarly , assuming that the absorbed plasma component is due to Galactic halo emission , we obtain a plasma density ranging from 0.0009 cm ^ { -3 } to 0.0016 cm ^ { -3 } , and a pressure ranging from 3.8 \times 10 ^ { 3 } to 6.7 \times 10 ^ { 3 } cm ^ { -3 } K .