Orion Flanking Fields: Chandra X-Ray Catalog of 417 Stellar Sources

417 X-ray point sources cataloged from Chandra observations of two flanking fields in the Orion Nebula region in 2002. The catalog includes X-ray luminosity, optical and infrared photometry, and variability information for 91 variable sources. This table was created by NASA's HEASARC in February 2007 based on data from the CDS.

Use Cases

• Identify and characterize pre-main-sequence stars based on X-ray luminosity and photometric data.
• Analyze stellar flare activity based on the 33 sources with flarelike light curves.
• Study long-term X-ray variability patterns using the 11 sources showing a steady increase or decrease over 10 hours.
• Correlate X-ray source properties with optical and infrared characteristics to understand stellar youth.

Strengths

• Contains 417 distinct X-ray sources with associated photometry and variability data.
• Identifies 91 variable sources, including 33 with flarelike and 11 with long-term trend patterns.
• Observations have substantial exposure times of 48.8 ks and 47.9 ks for the two fields.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Excludes spectral analysis results for 44 bright sources presented in the original paper.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA HEASARC)

Collection Method

Observations from the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS) on the Chandra X-Ray Observatory.

Time Range

Observations from August and September 2002.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 18:27:22.595496; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Two flanking fields north and south of the Trapezium cluster in the Orion Nebula region.