The Ultraluminous X-ray Source in Holmberg IX and its Environment

Bibcode
2006IAUS..230..302G
DOI
10.1017/S1743921306008519
Grisé, Fabien; Pakull, Manfred W.; Motch, Christian
Bibliographical reference

Populations of High Energy Sources in Galaxies Proceedings of the 230th Symposium of the International Astronomical Union, Held in Dublin, Ireland 15-19 August 2005, Edited by E. J. A. Meurs; G. Fabbiano. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006., pp.302-303

Advertised on:
0
2006
Number of authors
3
IAC number of authors
0
Citations
21
Refereed citations
19
Description
We present optical observations of an ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) in Holmberg IX, a dwarf galaxy near M81. The ULX has an average X-ray luminosity of some 1040 erg/s. It is located in a huge (400pc × 300pc) ionized nebula being much larger than normal supernova remnants. From the observed emission lines (widths and ratios) we find that the structure is due to collisional excitation by shocks, rather than by photoionization.We identify the optical counterpart to be a 22.8 mag blue star (M_V=-5.0) belonging to a small stellar cluster. From isochrone fitting of our multi-colour photometry we determine a cluster age of some 60 Myr. We also discovered strong stellar HeIIλ4686 emission (equivalent width of 10 Å) which proves the identification with the X-ray source, and which suggests the presence of an X-ray heated accretion disc around the putative black hole.
Type
Non-refereed

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