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NGC 1399 Chandra X-Ray Source Catalog

Metadata Updated: January 30, 2026

This table contains results from a wide-field study of the globular cluster (GC)/low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) connection in the giant elliptical NGC 1399. The large field of view of the Advanced Camera for Surveys/WFC, combined with the high resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra, allow the authors to constrain the LMXB formation scenarios in elliptical galaxies. They confirm that NGC 1399 has the highest LMXB fraction in GCs of all nearby elliptical galaxies studied so far, even though the exact value depends on galactocentric distance due to the interplay of a differential GC versus galaxy light distribution and the GC color dependence. In fact, LMXBs are preferentially hosted by bright, red GCs out to > 5 R<sub>eff</sub> of the galaxy light. The finding that GCs hosting LMXBs follow the radial distribution of their parent GC population argues against the hypothesis that the external dynamical influence of the galaxy affects the LMXB formation in GCs. On the other hand, field-LMXBs closely match the host galaxy light, thus indicating that they are originally formed in situ and not inside GCs. The authors measure GC structural parameters, finding that the LMXB formation likelihood is influenced independently by mass, metallicity, and GC structural parameters. In particular, the GC central density plays a major role in predicting which GCs host accreting binaries. Finally, this analysis shows that LMXBs in GCs are marginally brighter than those in the field, and in particular the only color-confirmed GC with L<sub>X</sub> > 10<sup>39</sup> erg/s shows no variability, which may indicate a superposition of multiple LMXBs in these systems. The optical data were taken with the ACS on board the HST (GO-10129), in the F606W filter. A detailed description of the HST data and source catalogs are given in Puzia T.H. et al. 2011, in preparation. The X-ray data were retrieved from the Chandra public archive (CXC). The authors selected observations 319 (ACIS-S; 2000 Jan 18) and 1472 (ACIS-I; 2003 May 26). This table contains the list of 230 X-ray sources detected in the overlap region common to Chandra ACIS-I, Chandra ACIS-S and HST ACS observation (see Fig 1 of the reference paper). Details of the X-ray source detection methodology are given in Section 2.2 of the reference paper. This table was created by the HEASARC in January 2013 based on the <a href="https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/ftp/cats/J/ApJ/736/90">CDS Catalog J/ApJ/736/90</a> file table3.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.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date April 11, 2025
Metadata Updated Date January 30, 2026

Metadata Source

Harvested from NASA Data.json

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date April 11, 2025
Metadata Updated Date January 30, 2026
Publisher High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center
Maintainer
Identifier ivo://nasa.heasarc/ngc1399cxo
Data Last Modified 2026-01-27
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 d1bee3a4-a444-46c6-b147-ef74a4af5c97
Harvest Source Id 58f92550-7a01-4f00-b1b2-8dc953bd598f
Harvest Source Title NASA Data.json
Homepage URL https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/W3Browse/all/ngc1399cxo.html
Program Code 026:000
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 4c21a7f5a018b6cb175379141d16f1db2009952e890690c855662cc82eb6e3b0
Source Schema Version 1.1

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