We report the results of the first six months of scanning observation of the Large Magellanic Cloud with the HEAO 1 modulation collimator. Refined positions for LMC X-1 and X-3 support previously suggested optical candidates; the position obtained for LMC X-2 has led to the discovery of a faint (B 18.5) variable blue star as its optical counterpart. Analysis of the light curves of LMC X-1, X-2, and X-3 reveals no evidence of eclipses or periodic intensity variations for periods between 0.6 and 16 days. A cross-correlation analysis of the modulation collimator data has led to the discovery of a previously unreported faint source, H0544 -665, and to upper limits on LMC X-5 and X-6. The luminosity distribution of the LMC X-ray sources is compared to that of galactic sources, and possible explanations for the systematically higher luminosity of the former are discussed. Subject headings: galaxies: Magellanic Clouds - galaxies: stellar content - stars: stellar statistics - X-rays: sources
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Johnston et al. (1979) studied this question.