CGRO/BATSE Earth Occultation Catalog of Low-Energy Gamma-Ray Sources
Short Name:
BATSEEOCAT
Date:
10 May 2024
Publisher:
NASA/GSFC HEASARC
Description:
This table contains the CGRO/BATSE Earth Occultation Catalog of Low-Energy Gamma-Ray Sources. The Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE), aboard the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO), provided a record of the low-energy gamma-ray sky (20 - 1000 keV band) between 1991 April and 2000 May (a 9.1 year period). Using the Earth Occultation Technique to extract flux information, a catalog of sources using data from the BATSE large area detectors has been prepared. The first part of the catalog consists of results from the monitoring of 58 sources, mostly Galactic. For these sources, the authors included tables of flux and spectral data, and outburst times for transients, in their published paper. The authors also performed a deep-sampling of 180 objects (including the aforementioned 58 objects) combining data from the entire 9.1 year BATSE dataset. (One extra object, GRO J1735-27, has been added in this HEASARC table in addition to the 179 objects discussed in the reference paper). Source types considered were primarily accreting binaries, but a small number of representative active galaxies, X-ray-emitting stars, and supernova remnants were also included. The deep sample results include definite detections of 83 objects and possible detections of 36 additional objects. The definite detections spanned three classes of sources: accreting black hole and neutron star binaries, active galaxies and supernova remnants. Flux data for the deep sample are presented in four energy bands: 20-40, 40-70, 70-160, and 160-430 keV. The limiting average flux level (9.1 years) for the sample varies from 3.5 to 20 mCrab (5 sigma) between 20 and 430 keV, depending on systematic error, which in turn is primarily dependent on the sky location. To strengthen the credibility of detection of weaker sources (5-25 mCrab), the authors generated Earth occultation images, searched for periodic behavior using FFT and epoch folding methods, and critically evaluated the energy-dependent emission in the four flux bands. For more information, visit the website <a href="https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/cgro/batse/hilev/highlevel.html">https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/cgro/batse/hilev/highlevel.html</a> or refer to the Harmon et al. 2004 paper. This table was first created by the HEASARC in June 2004 based on a table supplied by one of the authors. The HEASARC updated the table and added the data products in July 2006. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .
