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A Search for the Optical Counterpart of Centaurus X-3

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2016

B. A. Peterson*
Affiliation:
Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories, The Australian National University, Canberra

Extract

Centaurus X-3 was first observed by Chodil et al. in the energy range 2-9.5 Kev in 1967. Subsequent observations by Cooke and Pounds in the energy range 1-12 Kev snowed that the source was variable. Periodic X-ray pulses from Centaurus X-3 in the energy range 1-20 Kev have been discovered by Giacconi et al. They found that 70% of the X-ray energy was emitted in a pulse during 30% of a cycle. The length of the cycle is about 4.84 sec, but it was found to change by ~0.1% in a few days and by ~1% in three months. The X-ray data locate the source at 11h21.8m -60°25.8′ (1950) with an error of ±5′ arc.

Type
Contributions
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 1972

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References

1 Chodil, G., Mark, H., Rodrigues, R., Seward, F., Swift, C. D., Hiltner, W. A., Wallerstein, G. and Mannery, E. J., Phys. Rev. Letters, 19, 681 (1967).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2 Cooke, B. A. and Pounds, K. A., Nature Phys. Sci., 229, 144 (1971).Google Scholar
3 Giacconi, R., Gursky, H., Kellogg, E., Schreir, E. and Tananbaum, H., Astrophys. J. Letters, 167, L67 (1971).Google Scholar
4 Giacconi, R. (private communication).Google Scholar
5 Elliot, J. L., Horowitz, P., Liller, W., Papalolios, C. and Veverka, J., Astrophys. J. Letters, 168, L95 (1971).Google Scholar