The Optical Counterpart of an Ultraluminous X-Ray Source

Details The Optical Counterpart of an Ultraluminous X-Ray Source The Optical Counterpart of an Ultraluminous X-Ray Source

Jul 2002

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002hst..prop.9370b&link_type=abstract

HST Proposal ID #9370

Computer Science

Hst Proposal Id #9370

Scientific paper

Ultraluminous X-ray sources {ULX} are non-nuclear sources in normal disk galaxies that are second only to AGNs in point- source luminosity. These enigmatic objects are thought to be intermediate mass black holes {10^3 -10^4 solar masses}, and this can be verified by a direct mass determination, which requires knowledge of the mass of the secondary and the period of the binary system. The first step in determining the mass of ULXs is the optical identification of the secondary and for the ULX in NGC 5204, the optical counterpart is a compact blue object at V = 20.3. This counterpart, with M_V=-8.7, is either a very tight cluster of O stars, a megastar, or a background BL Lac object. We can distinguish between these possibilities with UV spectroscopy and imaging, and for the first time, determine the mass of the secondary in a ULX system.

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