BMW-Chandra: Multi-scale Wavelet Catalog of 21,325 X-ray Sources

The Brera Multi-scale Wavelet Chandra Source Catalog (BMW-Chandra) contains 21,325 X-ray sources identified from 136 Chandra ACIS-I observations public as of March 2003. The NASA HEASARC created this table in September 2008 based on the CDS catalog J/A+A/488/1221, making it the largest compilation of Chandra sources at its publication date. It includes source positions, count rates in multiple energy bands, flux estimates, and cross-matches with other astronomical catalogs.

Use Cases

• Statistical analysis of X-ray source populations based on the catalog of 21,325 identified sources.
• Cross-matching astronomical sources with external catalogs like FIRST, IRASPSC, 2MASS, and GSC2 based on the provided match counts.
• Characterizing source extension (point-like vs. extended) based on the wavelet detection algorithm output.
• Analyzing source fluxes and sky coverage in different energy bands (e.g., 0.5-2 keV, 2-7 keV) based on the provided flux ranges and coverage areas.

Strengths

• Contains 21,325 identified X-ray sources, including 16,758 serendipitous detections.
• Provides flux data across a wide range (from ~3e-16 to 9e-12 erg/cm²/s) with a median flux of 7e-15 erg/cm²/s.
• Includes cross-match counts with four major external catalogs (FIRST, IRASPSC, 2MASS, GSC2).
• Offers sky coverage estimates for the full catalog and a high Galactic latitude subset.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data is based on observations public as of March 2003, with a catalog publication date of August 2008; freshness should be verified.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for specific scaling needs.

Provenance

Source

NASA HEASARC, based on the CDS table J/A+A/488/1221.

Collection Method

Sources detected using a wavelet detection algorithm on Chandra ACIS-I pointed observations with exposure >10 ks.

Time Range

Observations public as of March 2003.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 17:01:21.235098; catalog data is from 2008.

Geography

Sky coverage; includes a subset at high Galactic latitude (|b| > 20 degrees).