Einstein Observatory 2E Catalog: 5,948 IPC X-Ray Sources

5,948 entries of X-ray sources detected by the Einstein Observatory's Imaging Proportional Counter (IPC) with signal-to-noise values of 3.5 and greater. The catalog was created by NASA's HEASARC in November 2000 based on a 1996 CDS catalog. It is a curated subset of the larger IPC catalog, which contains 6,816 entries.

Use Cases

• Cross-reference and validate X-ray source detections based on signal-to-noise thresholds mentioned in the description.
• Study the distribution and properties of X-ray sources from the Einstein Observatory era.
• Compare source entries with the larger IPC catalog to understand data selection and curation.
• Perform statistical analysis on a catalog of astronomical observations.

Strengths

• Contains 5,948 entries of X-ray source observations.
• Sources are filtered by a defined signal-to-noise threshold of 3.5 or greater.
• Created and maintained by NASA's authoritative HEASARC.
• Provides a link to the original CDS catalog source file.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown for the current hosted version, which may limit suitability assessment.
• A single source may have multiple entries, which could complicate analysis.

Provenance

Source

NASA HEASARC, based on CDS Catalog IX/13.

Collection Method

Created from the CDS catalog file 2e.dat, which was prepared based on the Einline version.

Time Range

Observations from the Einstein Observatory mission (1978-1981).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 17:48:15.846093; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Celestial (astronomical).