arXiv · astro-ph/0105083
The X-ray Emission from the Nucleus of the Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy NGC 3226
Abstract
We present the first high resolution X-ray image of the dwarf elliptical galaxy NGC 3226. The data were obtained during an observation of the nearby Seyfert Galaxy NGC 3227 using the Chandra X-ray Observatory. We detect a point X-ray source spatially consistent with the optical nucleus of NGC 3226 and a recently-detected, compact, flat-spectrum, radio source. The X-ray spectrum can be measured up to ~10 keV and is consistent with a power law with a photon index 1.7 <~ Gamma <~ 2.2, or thermal bremmstrahlung emission with 4 <~ kT <~ 10 keV. In both cases the luminosity in the 2--10 keV band ~10^{40} h_{75}^{-1} erg/s. We find marginal evidence that the nucleus varies within the observation. These characteristics support evidence from other wavebands that NGC 3226 harbors a low-luminosity, active nucleus. We also comment on two previously-unknown, fainter X-ray sources <~ 15 arcsec from the nucleus of NGC 3226. Their proximity to the nucleus (with projected distances <~ 1.3/h_{75} kpc) suggests both are within NGC 3226, and thus have luminosities (~few x 10^{38} -- few x 10^{39} erg/s) consistent with black-hole binary systems.
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I. M. George, R. F. Mushotzky, T. Yaqoob, T. J. Turner, S. Kraemer, A. F. Ptak, K. Nandra, D. M. Crenshaw, H. Netzer. 2001-05-04. The X-ray Emission from the Nucleus of the Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy NGC 3226. https://doi.org/10.1086/322389
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