Abstract
AT least five galactic X-ray sources have been identified with globular clusters1–3, and it is possible that a similar association holds for the bright unidentified sources near the galactic centre4. Intense X-ray bursts have been detected5 from the direction of one of these (3U1820–30/NGC 6624), and a star cluster, probably globular, has been found6 in the error box7,8 of the so-called ‘rapid burster’, MXB1730–335. Moreover, the error box of a hard X-ray flare observed from the Cosmos 428 satellite9 contains NGC5904 (M5). This globular cluster has similar properties10 to the others that emit X rays, and if normally weak it is unlikely to have appeared in the Uhuru catalogue because of its position. The X-ray emission from globular clusters may be attributable to accretion on to compact objects, the accreting material being supplied from binary companions11–14, or gas trapped in the potential well of the cluster15,16.
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FABIAN, A., PRINGLE, J. & REES, M. Globular clusters as a source of X-ray emission from the neighbourhood of M87. Nature 263, 301–302 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/263301b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/263301b0
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