The relative phasing of the X-ray eclipse ephemeris and optical radial velocity (RV) curve for the X-ray binary IC10 X-1 suggests the He[$lambda$4686] emission-line originates in a shadowed sector of the stellar wind that avoids ionization by X-rays
from the compact object. The line attains maximum blueshift when the wind is directly toward us at mid X-ray eclipse, as is also seen in Cygnus X-3. If the RV curve is unrelated to stellar motion, evidence for a massive black hole evaporates because the mass function of the binary is unknown. The reported X-ray luminosity, spectrum, slow QPO, and broad eclipses caused by absorption/scattering in the WR wind are all consistent with either a low-stellar-mass BH or a NS. For a NS, the centre of mass lies inside the WR envelope whose motion is then far below the observed 370 km/s RV amplitude, while the velocity of the compact object is as high as 600 km/s. The resulting 0.4% doppler variation of X-ray spectral lines could be confirmed by missions in development. These arguments also apply to other putative BH binaries whose RV and eclipse curves are not yet phase-connected. Theories of BH formation and predicted rates of gravitational wave sources may need revision.
The massive black hole + Wolf-Rayet binary IC10 X-1 was observed in a series of 10 Chandra and 2 XMM-Newton observations spanning 2003-2012, showing consistent variability around 7 x10^37 erg/s, with a spectral hardening event in 2009. We phase-conne
cted the entire light-curve by folding the photon arrival times on a series of trial periods spanning the known orbital period and its uncertainty, refining the X-ray period to P = 1.45175(1)d. The duration of minimum-flux in the X-ray eclipse is 5 hr which together with the optical radial velocity curve for the companion yields a radius for the eclipsing body of 8-10 Rsun for the allowed range of masses. The orbital separation of 18.5-22 Rsun then provides a limiting inclination i>63 degrees for total eclipses to occur. The eclipses are asymmetric (egress duration 0.9 hr) and show energy dependence, suggestive of an accretion-disk hotspot and corona. The eclipse is much (5X) wider than the 1.5-2 Rsun WR star, pointing to absorption/scattering in the dense wind of the WR star. The same is true of the close analog NGC 300 X-1. RV measurements of the He II [4686] line from the literature show a phase-shift with respect to the X-ray ephemeris such that the velocity does not pass through zero at mid-eclipse. The X-ray eclipse leads inferior conjunction of the RV curve by 90 degrees, so either the BH is being eclipsed by a trailing shock/plume, or the He II line does not directly trace the motion of the WR star and instead originates in a shadowed partially-ionized region of the stellar wind.
We present the results of a pair of 100 ksec Chandra observations in the Small Magellanic Cloud to survey high mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs), stars and LMXBs/CVs down to Lx = 4.3 x 10^32 erg/s The two SMC Deep Fields are located in the most active star
forming region of the bar, with Deep Field-1 positioned at the most pulsar-rich location identified from previous surveys. Two new pulsars were discovered in outburst: CXOU J004929.7-731058 (P=892s), CXOU J005252.2-721715 (P=326s), and 3 new HMXB candidates were identified. Of 15 Be-pulsars now known in the field, 13 were detected, with pulsations seen in 9 of them. Ephemerides demonstrate that 6 of the 10 pulsars known to exhibit regular outbursts were seen outside their periastron phase, and quiescent X-ray emission at Lx=10^33 - 10^34 is shown to be common. Comparison with ROSAT, ASCA, XMM-Newton catalogs resulted in positive identification of several previously ambiguous sources. Bright optical counterparts exist for 40 of the X-ray sources, of which 33 are consistent with early-type stars Mv<-2, B-V<0.2), and are the subject of a companion paper. The results point to an underlying HMXB population-density up to double that of active systems. The full catalog of 394 point-sources is presented along with detailed analyses of timing and spectral properties.
We report the discovery of a large amplitude (factor of $sim$100) X-ray transient (IC 10 X-2, CXOU J002020.99+591758.6) in the nearby dwarf starburst galaxy IC10 during our Chandra monitoring project. Based on the X-ray timing and spectral properties
, and an optical counterpart observed with Gemini, the system is a high mass X-ray binary (HMXB) consisting of a luminous blue supergiant and a neutron star (NS). The highest measured luminosity of the source was 1.8$times$10$^{37}$ erg s$^{-1}$ during an outburst in 2003. Observations before, during and after a second outburst in 2010 constrain the outburst duration to be less than 3 months (with no lower limit). The X-ray spectrum is a hard powerlaw ($Gamma$=0.3) with fitted column density ($N_H$=6.3$times$10$^{21}$ atom cm$^{-2}$) consistent with the established absorption to sources in IC10. The optical spectrum shows hydrogen Balmer lines strongly in emission, at the correct blueshift (-340 km/s) for IC10. The NIII triplet emission feature is seen, accompanied by He II [4686] weakly in emission. Together these features classify the star as a luminous blue supergiant of the OBN subclass, characterized by enhanced nitrogen abundance. Emission lines of HeI are seen, at similar strength to H$beta$. A complex of FeII permitted and forbidden emission lines are seen, as in B[e] stars. The system closely resembles galactic supergiant fast X-ray transients (SFXTs), in terms of its hard spectrum, variability amplitude and blue supergiant primary.
Digital Access to a Sky Century @ Harvard (DASCH) is a project to digitize the collection of ~500,000 glass photographic plates held at Harvard College Observatory. The collection spans the time period from 1880 to 1985, during which time every point
on the sky has been observed approximately 500 to 1000 times. In this paper we describe the results of the DASCH commissioning run, during which we developed the data-reduction pipeline and fine-tuned the digitzers performance and operation. This initial run consisted of 500 plates taken from a variety of different plate-series, all containing the open cluster Praeseppe (M44). We report that accurate photometry at the 0.1mag level is possible on the majority of plates, and demonstrate century-long light-curves of various types of variable stars in and around M44.
We report the discovery of a flaring X-ray source with an optical counterpart with Halpha emission and red-excess, in the direction of the SMC. A 100 ksec X-ray observation with Chandra detected a flare lasting 6 ksec in the source CXO J005428.9-7231
07. The X-ray spectrum during the flare was consistent with a thermal plasma of temperature kT=2.5 keV. In quiescence following the flare the spectrum was softer (kT= 0.4 keV). Timing analysis did not reveal any significant periodicities or QPOs. Optical images taken with the Magellan-Baade 6.5m telescope show a single star in the (0.9) error circle. This star has apparent magnitude V=19.17, exhibits enhanced Halpha emission (Halpha - r = -0.88), and has a large proper motion. Alternative explanations are explored, leading to identification as a relatively nearby (Galactic) coronally active star of the BY Draconis class.
