Near-infrared identification of the counterpart to X1908+075: a new OB-supergiant X-ray binary |
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| Authors: | T Morel Y Grosdidier |
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| Institution: | Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo G. S. Vaiana, Piazza del Parlamento 1, I-90134 Palermo, Italy;Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Calle Vía Láctea s/n, E-38200 La Laguna (Tenerife), Spain;Department of Physics, McGill University, 3600 University St., Montréal, Québec, Canada, H3A 2T8 |
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| Abstract: | We report the near-infrared (near-IR) identification of the likely counterpart to X1908+075, a highly absorbed Galactic X-ray source recently suspected to belong to the rare class of OB supergiant–neutron star binary systems. Our JHKs -band imaging of the field reveals the existence within the X-ray error boxes of a near-IR source consistent with an early-type star lying at d ～ 7 kpc and suffering AV ～ 16 mag of extinction, the latter value being in good agreement with the hydrogen column density derived from modelling of the X-ray spectrum. Our follow-up, near-IR spectroscopic observations confirm the nature of this candidate and lead to a late O-type supergiant classification, thereby supporting the identification of a new Galactic OB-supergiant X-ray binary. |
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| Keywords: | stars: early-type infrared: stars X-rays: binaries X-rays: individual: X1908+075 |
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