Optical/IR counterpart to the resolved X-ray jet source CXO J172337.5-373442 and its distance
Abstract
We present results of observations in the optical to mid-infrared wavelengths of the X-ray source CXO J172337.5-373442, which was serendipitously discovered in the Chandra images and was found to have a fully resolved X-ray jet. The observations include a combination of photometry and spectroscopy in the optical using ground-based telescopes and mid-infrared photometry using Spitzer. We detect the optical/IR counterpart of CXO J172337.5-373442 and identify it to be a G9 V star located at a distance of 334 +/- 60 pc. Comparable values of the hydrogen column densities determined independently from the optical/IR observations and X-ray observations indicate that the optical source is associated with the X-ray source. Since the X-ray luminosity cannot be explained in terms of emission from a single G9 V star, it is likely that CXO J172337.5-373442 is an accreting compact object in a binary system. Thus, CXO J172337.5-373442 is the nearest known resolved X-ray jet from a binary system, which is not a symbiotic star. Based on the existing X-ray data, the nature of the compact object cannot be confirmed. However, the low luminosity of the X-ray point source, 7.1 × 1030Lsolar, combined with estimates of the age of the jet and a lack of detection of bright outburst, suggests that the X-ray jet was launched during extreme quiescence of the object. The measured low X-ray luminosity of the jet suggests the likelihood of such jets being more ubiquitous than our current understanding.
- Publication:
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Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- November 2010
- DOI:
- 10.1111/j.1745-3933.2010.00960.x
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1009.4063
- Bibcode:
- 2010MNRAS.409L.114M
- Keywords:
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- techniques: photometric;
- techniques: spectroscopic;
- infrared: stars;
- X-rays: binaries;
- X-rays: individual: CXO J172337.5-373442;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies;
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
- E-Print:
- Accepted for publication in MNRAS