NGC 253 X-Ray Point Source Catalog from XMM-Newton Observations

A 2003 XMM-Newton observation provided the data for this catalog of X-ray point sources in the starburst galaxy NGC 253. The HEASARC created this table in April 2009 based on published research, which includes spectral fits for the brightest 140 sources and an analysis of ~100 likely contaminating sources. The catalog compares luminosity estimation methods and assesses background contamination from foreground stars and background galaxies.

Use Cases

• Analyzing X-ray luminosity functions (XLFs) of galaxy populations based on the spectral fits for 69 non-nuclear sources.
• Estimating contamination from foreground and background objects based on the identified ~100 sources not associated with NGC 253.
• Comparing luminosity derivation methods for X-ray sources with few photons, as discussed in the description.
• Studying the properties of background active galactic nuclei (AGN) in X-ray surveys.

Strengths

• Includes spectral fits for the brightest 140 X-ray sources from a deep observation.
• Provides a direct estimate of contamination from ~100 sources unlikely to be associated with the target galaxy.
• Data was cleaned for high background periods, resulting in ~46-69 ks of good observation time.

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 18:03:25.739232; freshness should be verified.

Provenance

Source

NASA HEASARC, based on electronic tables from the paper published in MNRAS.

Collection Method

Sources detected using the XMM-Newton SAS software from cleaned EPIC camera data.

Time Range

Observation from 2003.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 18:03:25.739232

Geography

Focus on the starburst spiral galaxy NGC 253.