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IC 10 Chandra X-ray Point Source Catalog

Metadata Updated: September 19, 2025

The authors monitored the Cassiopeia dwarf galaxy (IC 10) in a series of 10 Chandra ACIS-S observations to capture its variable and transient X-ray source population, which is expected to be dominated by High Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXBs). They present a sample of 21 X-ray sources that are variable between observations at the 3-sigma level, from a catalog of 110 unique point sources (the HEASARC notes that there are actually 111 sources in the CDS version of the catalog from which this HEASARC table originates). The authors find four transients (flux variability ratio greater than 10) and a further eight objects with ratios >5. The observations span the years 2003-2010 and reach a limiting luminosity of >10<sup>35</sup> erg/s, providing sensitivity to X-ray binaries in IC 10 as well as flare stars in the foreground Milky Way. The nature of the variable sources is investigated from light curves, X-ray spectra, energy quantiles, and optical counterparts. The purpose of this study is to discover the composition of the X-ray binary population in a young starburst environment. IC 10 provides a sharp contrast in stellar population age (<10 million years) when compared to the Magellanic Clouds (40-200 Myr) where most of the known HMXBs reside. The authors find 10 strong HMXB candidates, 2 probable background active galactic nuclei, 4 foreground flare-stars or active binaries, and 5 not yet classifiable sources. Complete classification of the sample requires optical spectroscopy for radial velocity analysis and deeper X-ray observations to obtain higher S/N spectra and search for pulsations. A catalog (contained in this HEASARC table) has been created and supporting data sets (the data used to create the light curves shown in Figures 3, 4 and 5 in the reference paper) are available at <a href="http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/ftp/cats/J/ApJ/836/50/">http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/ftp/cats/J/ApJ/836/50/</a>;. A monitoring series of 7x15 ks Chandra/ACIS observations, spaced at roughly six-week intervals was obtained during 2009-2010. A pair of very deep ACIS-S3 observations (2x45ks) made in 2006 November provided a reference data set for improved source positions and spectral information. The original Wang+ (2005, MNRAS, 362, 1065) Chandra (ACIS-S3) observation of 30 ks made in 2003 was also included in this analysis. The complete listing of 10 Chandra observation identifiers (ObsIDs) comprising the data set is summarized in Table 1 of the reference paper, also shown here: <pre> MJD |Date |ObsID|Flag|Exp.|RA(J2000)Dec(J2000)|Roll|Num. Sources ks hh mm ss dd mm ss deg. 52710.7|2003 Mar 12 |03953|a |28.9|00 20 25 +59 16 55|339.27|31 54041.8|2006 Nov 2 |07082| |40.1|00 20 04 +59 16 45|223.70|48 54044.2|2006 Nov 5 |08458| |40.5|00 20 04 +59 16 45|223.70|41 55140.7|2009 Nov 5 |11080| |14.6|00 20 17 +59 17 56|226.53|19 55190.2|2009 Dec 25 |11081| | 8.1|00 20 19 +59 18 02|286.15|24 55238.5|2010 Feb 11 |11082| |14.7|00 20 23 +59 17 10|320.56|24 55290.6|2010 Apr 4 |11083| |14.7|00 20 34 +59 19 01| 10.32|25 55337.8|2010 May 21 |11084| |14.2|00 20 25 +59 20 16| 67.89|27 55397.5|2010 Jul 20 |11085| |14.5|00 20 11 +59 19 13|121.25|22 55444.6|2010 Sep 5 |11086| |14.7|00 20 15 +59 18 11|157.71|27 |2006 Nov 2-5 |57082|b |80.6|00 20 04 +59 16 45|223.70|63 </pre> Flag values as follows: <pre> a = ObsID 03953 used about half of the CCD area in subarray mode. b = Merged 2006 data set referred to as ObsID 57082 consists of the nearly contiguous ObsIDs 07082 and 08458, which had identical pointings. </pre> Roll is the spacecraft roll angle, and Num. Sources is the number of unique point sources detected in each observation after combining wavdetect lists from the soft (S: 0.3-1.5 keV), broad (B: 0.3-8 keV) and hard (H: 2.5-8 keV) energy bands. This table was created by the HEASARC in November 2017 based upon the <a href="https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/ftp/cats/J/ApJ/836/50">CDS Catalog J/ApJ/836/50</a> file table2.dat. 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/ic10cxo
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 b3b8f05f-094b-4856-b934-c83ddaa91e65
Harvest Source Id 58f92550-7a01-4f00-b1b2-8dc953bd598f
Harvest Source Title NASA Data.json
Homepage URL https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/W3Browse/all/ic10cxo.html
Program Code 026:000
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash c02700c3dac48837b2a0ebe285b4a11aebfb42b323c303f08e02f29d9f771e3c
Source Schema Version 1.1

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