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XMM-Newton M 31 Survey Source Catalog

Metadata Updated: September 19, 2025

This table contains a source catalog based on XMM-Newton observations of the bright Local Group spiral galaxy M 31. In an analysis of XMM archival observations of M 31, the authors studied the population of X-ray sources (X-ray binaries, supernova remnants) down to a 0.2-4.5 keV luminosity of 4.4 x 10<sup>34</sup> erg/s. EPIC hardness ratios and optical and radio information were used to distinguish between different source classes. The survey detected 856 sources in an area of 1.24 square degrees. The authors correlated their sources with earlier M 31 X-ray catalogs and used information from optical, infra-red and radio wavelengths. As sources within M 31, they detected 21 supernova remnants (SNR) and 23 SNR candidates, 18 supersoft source (SSS) candidates, 7 X-ray binaries (XRBs) and 9 XRB candidates, as well as 27 globular cluster sources (GlC) and 10 GlC candidates, which most likely are low mass XRBs within the GlC. Comparison to earlier X-ray surveys revealed transients not detected with XMM-Newton, which add to the number of M 31 XRBs. There are 567 sources classified as hard, which might either be XRBs or Crab-like SNRs in M 31 or background AGN. The number of 44 SNRs and candidates more than doubles the X-ray-detected SNRs. 22 sources are new SNR candidates in M 31 based on X-ray selection criteria. Another SNR candidate might be the first plerion detected outside the Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds. On the other hand, six sources are foreground stars and 90 are foreground star candidates, one is a BL Lac-type active galactic nucleus (AGN) and 36 are AGN candidates, one source coincides with the Local Group galaxy M 32, one with a background galaxy cluster (GCl) and another is a GCl candidate, all sources which are not connected with M31. In a second paper, the authors presented an extension to the original 2005 XMM-Newton X-ray source catalog of M 31 which contained 39 newly found sources. These sources have been added to the original 856 sources to make a combined catalog of 895 X-ray sources which is contained herein. This table was originally created by the HEASARC in May 2005 based on the CDS table J/A+A/434/483/ file table2.dat (sources numbered 1 to 856). It was updated by the HEASARC in June 2008 by adding the 39 sources from the CDS table J/A+A/480/599/ file table3.dat (sources numbered 857 to 895). 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 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/m31xmmxray
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 e668a06e-3dfc-4d72-97c7-9e1f33cc29cb
Harvest Source Id 58f92550-7a01-4f00-b1b2-8dc953bd598f
Harvest Source Title NASA Data.json
Homepage URL https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/W3Browse/all/m31xmmxray.html
Program Code 026:000
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 02ea20d0d5a53b9ce6cf80097df4647e31776b2318db45a7289564a84913477c
Source Schema Version 1.1

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