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Scientific paper
Jul 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002hst..prop.9545p&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #9545
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Hst Proposal Id #9545 Galaxies
Scientific paper
X-ray observations of normal galaxies with ROSAT, ASCA and Chandra have revealed that off-nuclear, compact, Intermediate- luminosity {L_X sim10^39-40 erg/s} X-ray Objects {IXOs} are quite common. On average, we find that 1 in every 5 galaxies contains one of these intriguing objects, based on our ROSAT HRI catalog, which is the most complete IXO catalog yet known. IXOs have received wide attention as putative intermediate- mass black holes with masses 10^2-10^5 M_odot, which would be quite interesting and puzzling. It is also possible that IXOs are ``ordinary'' X-ray binaries with stellar-mass black holes, and their X-ray emission is mildly beamed. Otherwise, little is known about the geometrical and physical properties of this exciting new class of astrophysical objects. X-ray observations of IXOs alone have not been able to provide good diagnostics. Deep, high spatial resolution optical imaging observations can provide important clues to their nature by examining the environment around the accreting black hole. We request funding to analyze 267 HST archival images for 38 IXOs from our catalog in order to search for individual stellar companions and star clusters that may be associated with IXOs, and to generally identify the nature of the regions harboring IXOs. This AR proposal is a companion to a SNAP proposal by PI Colbert, which proposes to image IXOs for which no HST imaging exists yet.
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