NGC 6334 Chandra X-Ray Point Source Catalog

The full stellar population of NGC 6334, one of the most spectacular regions of massive star formation in the nearby Galaxy, has not been well sampled in past studies. The authors have analyzed a mosaic of two Chandra X-ray Observatory images of the region using sensitive data analysis methods, giving a list of 1607 faint X-ray sources with arcsecond positions and approximate line-of-sight absorption. About 95% of these are expected to be cluster members, most lower mass pre-main-sequence stars. Extrapolating to low X-ray levels, the total stellar population is estimated to be 20,000 - 30,000 pre-main-sequence stars. The X-ray sources show a complicated spatial pattern with ~10 distinct star clusters. The heavily obscured clusters are mostly associated with previously known far-infrared sources and radio H II regions. The lightly obscured clusters are mostly newly identified in the X-ray images. Dozens of likely OB stars are found, both in clusters and dispersed throughout the region, suggesting that star formation in the complex has proceeded over millions of years. A number of extraordinarily heavily absorbed X-ray sources are associated with the active regions of star formation. This table was created by the HEASARC in August 2009 based on the electronic version of table 1 from the above reference which were obtained from the AJ web site. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer HEASARC Help Desk
Last Updated November 5, 2026, 10:03 (UTC)
Created April 1, 2025, 13:23 (UTC)
Identifier ivo://nasa.heasarc/ngc6334cxo
Modified 2026-11-02T22:16:00Z
Theme {Astrophysics}
accessLevel public
bureauCode {026:00}
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
harvest_object_id 5a8604c5-6212-4d89-acd1-13e1a958090d
harvest_source_id b99e41c6-fe79-4c19-bbc3-9b6c8111bfac
harvest_source_title Science Discovery Engine
landingPage ivo://nasa.heasarc/ngc6334cxo
license https://www.usa.gov/government-works
programCode {026:000}
publisher High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash 8e9ed67da44f6eb43489f3fd9322651f2925ce03ab4dc6f961afbe8296f94ebd
source_schema_version 1.1