Description
We present an overview of the Chandra ACIS Survey of M33 (ChASeM33): A Deep Survey of the Nearest Face-on Spiral Galaxy. The 1.4Ms survey covers the galaxy out to R~18'(~4kpc). These data provide the most intensive, high spatial resolution assessment of the X-ray source populations available for the confused inner regions of M33. The initial source catalog, arising from ~2/3 of the expected survey data, includes 394 sources significant at the 3{sigma} confidence level or greater, down to a limiting luminosity (absorbed) of ~1.6x10^35^ergs/s (0.35-8.0keV). The hardness ratios of the sources separate those with soft, thermal spectra such as supernova remnants from those with hard, nonthermal spectra such as X-ray binaries and background active galactic nuclei. Emission extended beyond the Chandra point-spread function is evident in 23 of the 394 sources. Cross-correlation of the ChASeM33 sources against previous catalogs of X-ray sources in M33 results in matches for the vast majority of the brighter sources and shows 28 ChASeM33 sources within 10" of supernova remnants identified by prior optical and radio searches. This brings the total number of such associations to 31 out of 100 known supernova remnants in M33.
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