Optical Studies of the Ultraluminous X‐Ray Source NGC 1313 X‐2

NGC 1313 X-2 was among the first ultraluminous X-ray sources discovered, and has been a frequent target of X-ray and optical observations. Using the HST ACS multiband observations, this source is identified with a unique counterpart within an error circle of 0.2''. The counterpart is a blue star on the edge of a young cluster of ≤10 7 yr amid a dominant old stellar population. Its spectral energy distribution is consistent with that for a Z = 0.004 star with 8.5 M ☉ about 5 × 10 6 yr old, or for an O7 V star at solar metallicity. The counterpart exhibited significant variability of Δ m = 0.153 ± 0.033 mag between two F555W observations separated by 3 months, reminiscent of the ellipsoidal variability due to the orbital motion of this ULX binary.