Comparison of Six Supersoft X-ray Binaries

The supersoft X-ray sources are a distinct class of X-ray sources identified by ROSAT . They are characterized by very high luminosities (L bol ~ 10 38 ergs s −1 ) and black body temperatures of k T~ 30–60 eV. These sources are easily detected in the LMC and SMC because of the low column density of absorbing H gas. Thus, the samples found there are complete. They are much more difficult to find in the Galaxy due to soft X-ray absorption in the galactic plane.