ROSAT International X-Ray/Optical Survey Source Catalog

The ROSAT International X-Ray/Optical Survey (RIXOS) is a medium-sensitivity survey and optical identification program for X-ray sources which were discovered in ROSAT high Galactic latitude fields (|b| > 28 degrees) and observed with the Position Sensitive Proportional Counter (PSPC) detector. The survey made use of the central 17 arcmin of each ROSAT field. A flux limit of 3 x 10<sup>-14</sup> erg/s/cm<sup>2</sup> (0.5-2.0 keV) was adopted for this survey, and a minimum exposure time of 8000 seconds was required for qualifying ROSAT observations. X-ray sources in the survey are therefore substantially above the detection threshold of each field used, and many contain enough counts to allow the X-ray spectral slope to be estimated. Spectroscopic observations of potential counterparts were obtained of all sources down to the survey limit in 64 fields, totaling a sky area of 15.77 square degrees. Positive optical identifications are made for 94% of the 296 sources thus examined. A further 18 fields (4.44 sq deg), containing 105 sources above the 3 x 10<sup>-14</sup> erg/s/cm<sup>2</sup> survey limit, are completely optically identified to a higher flux of 8 x 10<sup>-14</sup> erg/s/cm<sup>2</sup> (0.5-2.0 keV). Optical spectroscopic data are supplemented by deep CCD imaging of many sources to reveal the morphology of the optical counterparts, and objects too faint to register on Sky Survey plates. The faintest optical counterparts have R ~ 22. This table contains the catalog of the RIXOS sources and their optical identifications. This table was originally ingested by the HEASARC in June 2005 based on CDS table J/MNRAS/311/456/rixos.dat. It was updated in November 2013 shortly after the CDS released an update with the previously inadvertently omitted source RX J111809.9+212554 (RIXOS 123_84) included. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer HEASARC Help Desk
Last Updated September 14, 2026, 22:15 (UTC)
Created April 1, 2025, 13:05 (UTC)
accessLevel public
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harvest_source_title Science Discovery Engine
identifier ivo://nasa.heasarc/rixos
landingPage ivo://nasa.heasarc/rixos
license https://www.usa.gov/government-works
modified 2026-09-07T22:15:59Z
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publisher High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center
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