MCXC: Meta-Catalog of X-Ray Detected Galaxy Clusters

1743 X-ray detected galaxy clusters with standardized properties, compiled by NASA from multiple ROSAT survey catalogs. The catalog provides homogenized data including redshift, coordinates, luminosity, mass, and radius for each cluster. It is made available to support X-ray, Sunyaev-Zel'dovich, and other multiwavelength studies.

Use Cases

• Cross-matching galaxy clusters across surveys based on provided catalog membership and overlap information.
• Analyzing cluster scaling relations based on standardized luminosity, mass, and radius values.
• Selecting samples for follow-up observations based on redshift and X-ray luminosity.
• Studying large-scale structure using the spatial distribution of the 1743 clusters.

Strengths

• Contains 1743 clusters with virtually no duplicate entries.
• Data systematically homogenized to a standard overdensity of 500 for direct comparison.
• Integrates multiple major ROSAT survey catalogs (e.g., NORAS, REFLEX, MACS).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last updated 2026-03-13 19:32:49.892010; freshness should be verified.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Meta-catalog compiled from publicly available ROSAT All Sky Survey and serendipitous survey cluster catalogs.

Time Range

Based on ROSAT survey data (1990s-2000s).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 19:32:49.892010

Geography

All-sky coverage from multiple surveys.