ROSAT survey of the Pleiades

We have detected 317 X-ray sources in these ROSAT PSPC images, 171 of which we associate with certain or probable members of the Pleiades cluster. We detect nearly all Pleiades members with spectral types later than G0 and within 25 arcminutes of our three field centers where our sensitivity is highest.

This has allowed us to derive for the first time the luminosity function for the G, K, and M dwarfs of an open cluster without the need to use statistical techniques to account for the presence of upper limits in the data sample. Because of our high X-ray detection frequency down to the faint limit of the optical catalog, we suspect that some of our unidentified X-ray sources are previously unknown, very low-mass members of the Pleiades.