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Oxford University Press, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1(387), p. 73-78, 2008

DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13293.x

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New Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the counterparts to six ultraluminous X-ray sources.

Journal article published in 2008 by Tp P. Roberts ORCID, Aj J. Levan, Mr R. Goad
This paper is available in a repository.
This paper is available in a repository.

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Abstract

We report the results of new Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the positions of six ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs). Using images in three Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) filters, we detect good candidate counterparts to four out of six ULXs, with one more possible detection, and observed magnitudes in the range m similar to 22-26 in the F606W filter. The extinction-corrected colours and absolute magnitudes vary from source to source, even after correcting for additional extinction in the host galaxy, and only one counterpart is readily explained as an OB star. Nevertheless, these counterparts are decent candidates for future follow-up in pursuit of dynamical mass constraints on the likely black holes powering these sources.