2001/06/29 by Philip Kaaret, P. Kaaret · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/322963
accepted by the Astrophysical Journal, 7 pages
arxiv created 2001/06/29 · openalex publication_date 2001/10/20 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Six X-ray point sources, with luminosities of 4 × 10 38 -2 × 10 39 ergs s -1 in the 0.4-7 keV band, were detected in Chandra observations of the spiral galaxy M100. One source is identified with supernova SN 1979C and appears to have roughly constant X-ray flux for the period 16-20 yr after the outburst. The X-ray spectrum is soft, as would be expected if the X-ray emission is due to the interaction of supernova ejecta with circumstellar matter. Most of the other sources are variable either within the Chandra observation or when compared to archival data. None are coincident with the peak of the radio emission at the nucleus. These sources have harder spectra than the supernova and are likely X-ray binaries. M100 has more bright X-ray sources than typical for spiral galaxies of its size. This is likely related to active star formation occurring in the galaxy.