Bibcode
Grisé, F.; Kaaret, P.; Corbel, S.; Feng, H.; Cseh, D.; Tao, L.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 745, Issue 2, article id. 123 (2012).
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2
2012
Journal
Citations
73
Refereed citations
66
Description
We obtained three epochs of simultaneous Hubble Space Telescope
(HST)/Wide Field Camera 3 and Chandra observations of the ultraluminous
X-ray source (ULX) NGC 5408 X-1. The counterpart of the X-ray source is
seen in all HST filters, from the UV through the near-IR (NIR), and for
the first time, we resolve the optical nebula around the ULX. We
identified a small OB association near the ULX that may be the
birthplace of the system. The stellar association is young, ~5 Myr,
contains massive stars up to 40 M &sun;, and is thus
similar to associations seen near other ULXs, albeit younger. The
UV/optical/NIR spectral energy distribution (SED) of the ULX counterpart
is consistent with that of a B0I supergiant star. We are also able to
fit the whole SED from the X-rays to the NIR with an irradiated disk
model. The three epochs of data show only marginal variability and thus,
we cannot firmly conclude on the nature of the optical emission.