NGC 3293 Chandra X-Ray Point Source Catalog: 1026 Sources in a Young Stellar Cluster

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory performed a 71-ksec observation of the young stellar cluster NGC 3293 in October 2015, detecting 1026 individual X-ray point sources. The data were used to characterize the cluster's low-mass stellar population, refute claims of a mass function deficit, and estimate an age of 8-10 million years. The catalog includes identified counterparts for 74% of the X-ray sources from deep near-infrared images.

Use Cases

• Study the initial mass function of a young stellar cluster based on the catalog of 1026 X-ray sources.
• Analyze the age and evolution of low-mass stars based on the color-magnitude diagram data mentioned in the description.
• Investigate X-ray emission from early and later B-type stars based on the detection rates reported.
• Compare stellar populations across the Carina Nebula Complex using the cluster's populous nature as a benchmark.

Strengths

• Deep observation with 71 kiloseconds of exposure time, providing high sensitivity.
• Large sample of 1026 individually detected X-ray point sources.
• High counterpart identification rate of 74% with deep near-infrared images.
• Precise spatial coverage with a 17' x 17' field of view and 0.492" pixel size.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Observation with the Chandra X-ray Observatory's ACIS-I imaging array (ObsID 16648).

Time Range

Observation performed on 2015-10-07 to 2015-10-08.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 16:32:40.332670; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Target: NGC 3293 stellar cluster in the Carina Nebula Complex (RA(J2000) = 10h 35m 50.07s, Dec(J2000) = -58° 14' 00").