NGC 6231 X-Ray Source Catalog from XMM-Newton Observations

610 X-ray sources were detected in the young open cluster NGC 6231 during a ~180 ks XMM-Newton observation campaign. Over 85% of these sources have optical or infrared counterparts identified from existing catalogs. This catalog was created by NASA HEASARC in March 2007 based on data from CDS catalog J/A+A/454/1047.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the spatial distribution of X-ray sources based on the described King profile with a core radius of 3.1 arcminutes.
• Cross-identifying X-ray sources with optical/infrared counterparts using the provided associations with 2MASS, GSC2.2, USNO B1.0, and SSB06 catalogs.
• Studying the energy distribution of faint X-ray sources, which the description notes is peaked around 1.0-2.0 keV.
• Estimating foreground and background source contamination, expected to be about 9% of the detected sources.

Strengths

• Contains 610 detected X-ray sources with a limiting sensitivity of approximately 6 x 10^-15 erg/s/cm^2.
• High cross-identification rate, with over 85% of sources associated with optical/IR counterparts.
• Includes equatorial coordinates, logarithmic likelihoods, and count rates for three EPIC instruments across various energy ranges.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The sensitivity and source detection depend on location in the field of view and source spectrum.

Provenance

Source

NASA HEASARC, based on CDS catalog J/A+A/454/1047.

Collection Method

Results from an X-ray campaign using XMM-Newton observations totaling ~180 ks.

Time Range

Observation date not specified; catalog created March 2007.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 20:14:41.801846; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Centered on the colliding wind binary HD 152248 in the cluster NGC 6231 (RA, Dec J2000.0 of 16 54 10.06, -41 49 30.1).