The ROSAT Raster survey in the north ecliptic pole field X-ray catalogue and optical identifications
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- Published on 19 January 2021
Vol. 645
14. Catalogs and data
The ROSAT Raster survey in the north ecliptic pole field X-ray catalogue and optical identifications
Archival data are a gift that keeps on giving. The X-ray satellite ROSAT performed a raster scan of the North Ecliptic Pole (NEP) region in 1992. These data have now been analyzed in detail and put into context with the aid of multiwavelength surveys from the infrared to the ultraviolet. Hasinger and collaborators identified 766 high-quality X-ray sources, with an optical identification and redshift, out of 805 sources. Thanks to the combination of a large solid angle (40 deg2) and sufficient X-ray sensitivity (~5x10−14 erg cm−2 s−1, 0.5-2 keV), their survey was able to unveil a dominant population of absorbed active galactic nuclei (AGN2) with optically very faint infrared X-ray counterparts, which become predominant at high luminosity (log(LX/(erg s−1))>44) and high redshift (z>1.5).