Catalog of 107 Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources in Nearby Galaxies

A complete sample of 127 galaxies within 14.5 Mpc, spanning all Hubble types, was surveyed to identify ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs). The catalog contains 107 ULXs with luminosities exceeding 10^39 erg s^-1, created by NASA HEASARC in November 2011 based on published research.

Use Cases

• Modeling the luminosity function of ULXs based on the reported power-law slope and exponential cutoff.
• Estimating ULX population densities in the local universe using the provided rates per stellar mass and star formation rate.
• Investigating the nature of extreme luminosity claims by comparing them to the extrapolated local luminosity distribution.
• Analyzing the correlation between ULX occurrence and host galaxy properties like mass and star formation rate.

Strengths

• Based on a complete, well-defined galaxy sample within 14.5 Mpc, covering a four-decade range in mass and star formation rate.
• Provides quantitative detection rates (e.g., one ULX per 3.2 x 10^10 solar masses) and estimates for undetected and background sources.
• Includes analysis of the differential luminosity function with specific slope and cutoff values.

Limitations

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

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA HEASARC)

Collection Method

Created based on an electronic version of a reference paper's table obtained from the ApJ website.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 18:26:37.414655; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Galaxies within 14.5 Mpc (local universe)