Previous abstract Next abstract
We have taken all the data available from the ROSAT public archive as of September 1994 and used a sliding box detection technique to generate a catalog of point sources. This catalog currently contains in excess of 40,000 entries and is by far the largest public list of X-ray sources. It will be released through the HEASARC and ESIS online services in November 1994. A cross-correlation against all the major catalogs has allowed a preliminary identification of known optical, radio, X-ray and IR objects, but these represent a small fraction of the catalog. The sky coverage and various catalog overview parameters will be presented. A hardness and softness ratio is also used to identify unusually soft or hard sources. The arrival time distribution of the photons collected for each detected source is compared with the corresponding distribution of the entire image using a Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test. The result of the KS test is a $\chi^2$ value which is then used to test for highly variable sources. A number of flaring X-ray sources have been discovered, including a new recurrent super-soft X-ray transient in M31.
Tuesday program listing