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ROSAT All-Sky Survey Candidate Isolated Neutron Stars

Metadata Updated: September 4, 2025

Using new and archival observations made with the Swift satellite and other facilities, the authors examine 147 X-ray sources selected from the ROSAT All-Sky-Survey Bright Source Catalog (RASS/BSC) to produce a new limit on the number of isolated neutron stars (INSs) in the RASS/BSC, the most constraining such limit to date. Independent of X-ray spectrum and variability, the number of INSs is <= 48 (90% confidence). Restricting attention to soft (kT<sub>eff</sub> < 200 eV), non-variable X-ray sources - as in a previous study - yields an all-sky limit of <= 31 INSs. In the course of their analysis, the authors identify 5 new high-quality INS candidates for targeted follow-up observations. A future all-sky X-ray survey with eROSITA, or another mission with similar capabilities, can be expected to increase the detected population of X-ray-discovered INSs from the 8 - 50 in the BSC, to (for a disk population) 240 - 1500, which will enable a more detailed study of neutron star population models. Following selection of the INS candidates, short (~ 1 ks) follow-up observations with Swift/XRT were obtained for 92 of the candidates; these observations decreased the X-ray positional uncertainty (the systematic positional error associated with Swift blind pointing observations is on the order of 3.5"). The authors obtained (where possible) contemporaneous UV observations with Swift/UVOT for counterpart identification with off-band objects. This table was created by the HEASARC in May 2012 based on <a href="https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/ftp/cats/J/ApJ/714/1424">CDS Catalog J/ApJ/714/1424</a> files table1.dat and 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 4, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from NASA Data.json

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date April 11, 2025
Metadata Updated Date September 4, 2025
Publisher High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center
Maintainer
Identifier ivo://nasa.heasarc/rasscndins
Data Last Modified 2025-08-27
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 149bc810-ffb3-4cef-93c1-8e1addfdb9d4
Harvest Source Id 58f92550-7a01-4f00-b1b2-8dc953bd598f
Harvest Source Title NASA Data.json
Homepage URL https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/W3Browse/all/rasscndins.html
Program Code 026:000
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 4d7bcb5b44ff7b29d507cc5a2eb7b37f52ab90321d30d9a79b4f562ce1c65aba
Source Schema Version 1.1

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