Counterparts of X-ray sources in the Cartwheel galaxy from JWST images
Abstract
The Cartwheel galaxy is a ring galaxy whose current ring state came about after another galaxy ripped through its center in a massive collision. Its evolution involved an expanding shock wave from its center to the outskirts, making a ring, which has been a hotbed for stellar creation and—ushering in our study—X-Ray sources. In fact, the Cartwheel galaxy currently contains the highest number of ultraluminous X-Ray sources (ULXs) of any observed galaxy (these are sources with X-ray luminosity above 1039erg/s). In this study we aimed to help classify some of these possible ULXs: N11 and N6. The first step in this classification involved figuring out where the sources are; whether in front of the plane of the galaxy, in it, or behind it. Our general strategy was to obtain a photometric spectral energy distribution (SED) using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the VLT Survey Telescope (VST), and the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX). Our idea was to use the newly released public domain images of JWST to take advantage of its unprecedented spatial resolution to revisit the X-ray sources previously observed in the Cartwheel. Then, using the photometric redshift code hyperz, we fitted these SEDs to linear combinations of Simple Stellar Populations (SSPs) with varying redshifts and ages to obtain a redshift z value and error for the ULXs. In this talk we will present both the procedure and the outcoming results.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #243
- Pub Date:
- February 2024
- Bibcode:
- 2024AAS...24312704D