We present the results of the Chandra high-resolution observation of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 7590. This object was reported to show no X-ray absorption in the low-spatial resolution ASCA data. The XMM-Newton observat...We present the results of the Chandra high-resolution observation of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 7590. This object was reported to show no X-ray absorption in the low-spatial resolution ASCA data. The XMM-Newton observations show that the X-ray emission of NGC 7590 is dominated by an off-nuclear ultra-luminous X- ray source (ULX) and extended emissions from the host galaxy, and the nucleus is rather weak, likely hosting a Compton-thick AGN. Our recent Chandra observation of NGC 7590 enables us to effectively remove the X-ray contamination from the ULX and the extended component. The nuclear source remains undetected at the flux level of ～ 4 × 10-15 erg cm-2 s-1. Although not detected, the Chandra data give a 2- 10 keV flux upper limit of ～ 6.1 × 10-15 erg cm-2 s-1 (at a 3σ level), a factor of three less than the XMM-Newton value, strongly supporting the Compton-thick nature of the nucleus. In addition, we detected five off-nuclear X-ray point sources within the galaxy's D25 ellipse, all with 2 - 10 keV luminosity above 2×1038 erg s-1 (assuming the distance of NGC 7590). In particular, the ULX previously identified by ROSAT data is resolved by Chandra into two distinct X-ray sources. Our analysis highlights the importance of high spatial resolution images in discovering and studying ULXs.展开更多
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 10825312 and11103017)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant Nos. WK2030220004 and WK 2030220005)Partial support for this work was provided by NASA through Chandra Award GO1-12134X
文摘We present the results of the Chandra high-resolution observation of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 7590. This object was reported to show no X-ray absorption in the low-spatial resolution ASCA data. The XMM-Newton observations show that the X-ray emission of NGC 7590 is dominated by an off-nuclear ultra-luminous X- ray source (ULX) and extended emissions from the host galaxy, and the nucleus is rather weak, likely hosting a Compton-thick AGN. Our recent Chandra observation of NGC 7590 enables us to effectively remove the X-ray contamination from the ULX and the extended component. The nuclear source remains undetected at the flux level of ～ 4 × 10-15 erg cm-2 s-1. Although not detected, the Chandra data give a 2- 10 keV flux upper limit of ～ 6.1 × 10-15 erg cm-2 s-1 (at a 3σ level), a factor of three less than the XMM-Newton value, strongly supporting the Compton-thick nature of the nucleus. In addition, we detected five off-nuclear X-ray point sources within the galaxy's D25 ellipse, all with 2 - 10 keV luminosity above 2×1038 erg s-1 (assuming the distance of NGC 7590). In particular, the ULX previously identified by ROSAT data is resolved by Chandra into two distinct X-ray sources. Our analysis highlights the importance of high spatial resolution images in discovering and studying ULXs.
