NGC 6530 X-Ray Point Source Catalog from XMM-Newton Observation

The Lagoon Nebula (M 8) region was observed for 20 ks by the XMM-Newton satellite. The resulting catalog contains information on 117 X-ray point sources, 72 of which have a single optical counterpart within a 9 arcsecond radius. This dataset was produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and was last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Identify and classify pre-main sequence stars based on X-ray emission properties.
• Correlate X-ray sources with optical counterparts using the provided cross-referencing information.
• Analyze stellar flare events based on the description of a source with a flare-like flux increase.
• Model thermal plasma spectra using the temperature (kT ~ a few keV) information for the brightest sources.

Strengths

• Contains 117 distinct X-ray point sources with detection criteria explicitly stated.
• 72 sources have a matched single optical counterpart with an average angular separation of 4.1 +/- 2.1 arcseconds.
• Provides specific flux calculations for the faintest sources, including observed and unabsorbed values.

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

Collection Method

Data from a 20 ks XMM-Newton observation, processed with SAS source detection algorithms.

Time Range

Observation duration of 20 ks (kiloseconds).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 17:47:26.686643; freshness should be verified.

Geography

The Lagoon Nebula (M 8) and the young open cluster NGC 6530.