The cosmic X-ray sources

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Abstract
The current state of knowledge of cosmic X-ray sources is reviewed, with a strong emphasis on observations in the photon energy range 0.5-10 keV. Two main types of galactic source are recognised-remnants of supernovae, and binary sources. In these the X-ray results from gravitational accretion onto a compact star-a neutron star or black hole, or possibly a white dwarf-of material from a normal, companion star. There also appear to be two main types of extragalactic X-ray source, which each have a total luminosity considerably in excess of the sum of those of the individual sources within the Galaxy, and so are a different class of object. These are galactic clusters and active galaxies.