ROSAT HRI Catalog of 397 X-Ray Sources in the Large Magellanic Cloud

397 X-ray sources were detected in the Large Magellanic Cloud from 543 ROSAT HRI observations taken between 1990 and 1998. This catalog, created by Sasaki et al. and hosted by NASA HEASARC, includes 259 new detections and cross-references with other catalogs to provide hardness ratios and improved positional accuracy. 94 sources were identified with known objects, including stars, supernova remnants, and active galactic nuclei.

Use Cases

• Classifying X-ray source types based on identified objects like supernova remnants and active galactic nuclei mentioned in the description.
• Analyzing source positional accuracy and variability based on the cross-correlation and coordinate improvement methods described.
• Studying the distribution and properties of new X-ray detections compared to known catalogs.
• Investigating source characteristics using derived properties like hardness ratios and X-ray to optical flux ratios referenced in the description.

Strengths

• Contains 397 distinct X-ray sources with measured properties.
• Includes 259 sources that were new detections at the time of creation.
• Source positions were determined with errors smaller than 15 arcsec, with coordinates improved for 254 sources.
• Catalog cross-correlates with SIMBAD, Tycho, and PSPC catalogs to provide additional identifiers and hardness ratios.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data collection ended in 1998; newer observations are not included.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA HEASARC), derived from ADC/CDS Catalog J/A+AS/143/391.

Collection Method

Analysis of 543 pointed observations from the ROSAT High Resolution Imager (HRI) satellite.

Time Range

Observations performed between 1990 and 1998.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 19:06:41.089973; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Covers a 10 by 10 degree field centered on the Large Magellanic Cloud.