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Chandra Serendipitous Extragalactic X-Ray Source ID (SEXSI) Optical Follow-Up

Metadata Updated: September 19, 2025

The Serendipitous Extragalactic X-ray Source Identification (SEXSI) Program is designed to expand significantly the sample of identified extragalactic hard X-ray sources at intermediate fluxes, 10<sup>-15</sup> ergs/cm<sup>2</sup>/s < 2-10 keV Flux <~ 10<sup>-13</sup> ergs/cm<sup>2</sup>/s. SEXSI, which includes sources derived from more than 2 square degrees of Chandra images, provides the largest hard X-ray-selected sample yet studied, offering an essential complement to the Chandra Deep Fields (total area of 0.2 square degrees). In Eckart et al. (2005, Paper II) R-band optical imaging of the SEXSI fields from the Palomar P60 and P200, the MDM 2.4m and 1.3m, and the Keck I telescopes is described. The authors have identified counterparts or derived flux limits for nearly 1000 hard X-ray sources. Using the optical images, they have derived accurate source positions. They have investigated correlations between optical and X-ray flux, and optical flux and X-ray hardness ratio. They have also studied the density of optical sources surrounding X-ray counterparts, as well as the properties of optically faint, hard X-ray sources. In Eckart et al. (2006, Paper III) optical spectra of 477 counterparts are presented. These spectra reach to R-band magnitudes of <~24 and have produced identifications and redshifts for 438 hard X-ray sources. Typical completeness levels in the 27 Chandra fields studied are 40-70%. The vast majority of the 2-10 keV selected sample are AGNs with redshifts between 0.1 and 3; the highest redshift source lies at z = 4.33. This table which combines data presented in Eckart et al. (2005, 2006) has links to the list of SEXSI X-ray sources (the HEASARC Browse table CHANSEXSI: see Paper I = Harrison et al. 2003, ApJ, 596, 944). This table was originally created by the HEASARC in June 2005 based on the CDS version of Table 3 from Eckart et al. (2005: CDS table J/ApJS/156/35/table3.dat). It was updated in August 2006 to include information from Table 2 of Eckart et al. (2006: the electronic version available at the electronic ApJ web site). This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date April 11, 2025
Metadata Updated Date September 19, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from NASA Data.json

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date April 11, 2025
Metadata Updated Date September 19, 2025
Publisher High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center
Maintainer
Identifier ivo://nasa.heasarc/chansexoid
Data Last Modified 2025-09-10
Category Astrophysics
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 026:00
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 85b8690a-0718-4e71-bf15-58feeec12a88
Harvest Source Id 58f92550-7a01-4f00-b1b2-8dc953bd598f
Harvest Source Title NASA Data.json
Homepage URL https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/W3Browse/all/chansexoid.html
Program Code 026:000
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 8327b0a4a5c387604f7e40f7e6c0e9f17e8527f023b33b7f4650416f2178359f
Source Schema Version 1.1

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