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Chandra ACIS GSG Point-Like X-Ray Source Catalog

Metadata Updated: April 10, 2026

The Chandra archival data are a valuable resource for various studies on different X-ray astronomy topics. In this paper, the authors utilize this wealth of information and present a uniformly processed data set, which can be used to address a wide range of scientific questions. The data analysis procedures are applied to 10,029 Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer observations, which produces 363,530 source detections belonging to 217,828 distinct X-ray sources. This number is twice the size of the Chandra Source Catalog (Version 1.1). The catalogs in this paper provide abundant estimates of the detected X-ray source properties, including source positions, counts, colors, fluxes, luminosities, variability statistics, etc. Cross-correlation of these objects with galaxies shows that 17,828 sources are located within the D<sub>25</sub> isophotes of 1,110 galaxies, and 7,504 sources are located between the D<sub>25</sub> and 2D<sub>25</sub> isophotes of 910 galaxies. Contamination analysis with the log N-log S relation indicates that 51.3% of objects within 2D<sub>25</sub> isophotes are truly relevant to galaxies, and the "net" source fraction increases to 58.9%, 67.3%, and 69.1% for sources with luminosities above 10<sup>37</sup>, 10<sup>38</sup>, and 10<sup>39</sup> erg/s, respectively. Among the possible scientific uses of this catalog mentioned in this paper, the authors discuss the possibility of studying intra-observation variability, inter-observation variability, and supersoft sources (SSSs). About 17,092 detected sources above 10 counts are classified as variable in individual observation with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) criterion (P<sub>K-S</sub> < 0.01). There are 99,647 sources observed more than once and 11,843 sources observed 10 times or more, offering a wealth of data with which to explore their long-term variability. There are 1,638 individual objects (~2,350 detections) classified as SSSs. As a quite interesting subclass, detailed studies on X-ray spectra and optical spectroscopic follow-up are needed to categorize these SSSs and pinpoint their properties. In addition, this survey can enable a wide range of statistical studies, such as X-ray activity in different types of stars, X-ray luminosity functions in different types of galaxies, and multi-wavelength identification and classification of different X-ray populations. The ACIS observations were downloaded from the Chandra Data Archive on 2014 December 4, yielding 10,047 ACIS observations. Eighteen observations with PI as "Calibration" or Exposure as zero were excluded. Finally, there are 10,029 ACIS observations containing 4,146 ACIS-I observations and 5,883 ACIS-S observations in our sample. The exposure times for the selected observations cover a range from 50 s to 190 ks, with a total of 221,851 ks. This HEASARC table comprises the list of 218,789 X-ray point sources detected in the Chandra ACIS Survey and listed in the machine-readable version of Table 5 from the reference paper. This number is somewhat larger than the number of independent sources (217,828) stated in the abstract and Section 5 of the reference paper because if a source lies within 2*R<sub>25</sub> of more than one galaxy it is listed multiple times, once for each galaxy with which it may be associated. All parameters are the same for such duplicate cases except for the entry_number, alt_name, adopted_distance, luminosity, src_nucleus_offset, norm_src_nucleus_offset and (in some cases) source_type. This table was created by the HEASARC in March 2017 primarily based on <a href="https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/ftp/cats/J/ApJS/224/40/">CDS Catalog J/ApJS/224/40/</a> file table5.dat, the catalog of X-ray point sources in the Chandra ACIS Survey. The positional information for these sources was taken from <a href="https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/ftp/cats/J/ApJS/224/40/">CDS Catalog J/ApJS/224/40/</a> file table3.dat, the list of separation detections for these X-ray sources, using the first listed detection in each case. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: See this page for license information.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date April 11, 2025
Metadata Updated Date April 10, 2026

Metadata Source

Harvested from NASA Data.json

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date April 11, 2025
Metadata Updated Date April 10, 2026
Publisher High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center
Maintainer
Identifier ivo://nasa.heasarc/cxogsgsrc
Data Last Modified 2026-04-06
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 9a311c0a-52df-4c33-9f91-029caeb7fa67
Harvest Source Id 58f92550-7a01-4f00-b1b2-8dc953bd598f
Harvest Source Title NASA Data.json
Homepage URL ivo://nasa.heasarc/cxogsgsrc
License https://www.usa.gov/government-works
Program Code 026:000
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash d2ac21cf74d37ae51d71372007bddc5b269b1ecbe2daa207c504939c61f22654
Source Schema Version 1.1

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