Chandra Deep Field South: 346 X-ray Sources with Optical Identifications

346 X-ray sources cataloged from a 942-kilosecond Chandra Observatory exposure of the Chandra Deep Field South between 1999 and 2000. The catalog includes flux limits for soft and hard energy bands and presents optical identifications for approximately 85% of the sources using R-band imaging data. NASA HEASARC created this online catalog in June 2002 based on data from Giacconi et al. (2002).

Use Cases

• Cross-matching X-ray and optical sources based on the provided coordinate cross-correlation and offset data.
• Analyzing source detection reliability by comparing the primary list against the secondary lists from two different detection methods.
• Studying the properties of faint X-ray sources using the reported soft and hard band flux limits.
• Investigating the population of unidentified sources, which constitutes approximately 10-15% of the catalog.

Strengths

• Catalog generated from a long, 942-kilosecond exposure, likely increasing sensitivity.
• Uses two independent detection methods (modified SExtractor and wavelet transform) to assess reliability.
• Includes optical identifications for a high fraction (~85%) of the X-ray sources using deep R-band imaging.
• Provides specific flux limits: 5.5e-17 erg/s/cm² (soft band) and 4.5e-16 erg/s/cm² (hard band).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect temporal bias inherent to the 1999-2000 observation period.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA HEASARC)

Collection Method

Combined 11 Chandra ACIS-I pointings; catalog generated using a modified SExtractor algorithm and a wavelet transform technique.

Time Range

Observations made between 1999 October and 2000 December.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 17:56:07.918312; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Chandra Deep Field South (CDFS) region of the sky.