X-ray survey of the Galactic Bulge (CXOGBS)

Abstract

We provide the Chandra source list for the last ∼quarter of the area covered by the Galactic Bulge Survey (GBS). The GBS targets two strips of 6°x1° (12 square degrees in total), one above (1° < b < 2°) and one below (-2° < b < -1°) the Galactic plane in the direction of the Galactic center at X-ray, optical, and near-infrared wavelengths. For the X-ray part of the survey we use 2 ks per Chandra pointing. We find 424 X-ray sources in the 63 Chandra observations on which we report here. These sources are in addition to the 1216 X-ray sources discovered in the first part of the GBS survey described previously. We discuss the characteristics and the X-ray variability of the brightest of the sources as well as the radio properties from existing radio surveys. We point out an interesting asymmetry in the number of X-ray sources as a function of their Galactic l and b coordinates which is probably caused by differences in average extinction toward the different parts of the GBS survey area