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We present a method for the optical identification of sources detected in wide-field X-ray sky surveys. We have constructed and trained a neural network model to characterise the photometric attributes of the populations of optical counterparts of X-ray sources and optical field objects. The photometric information processing result is used for the probabilistic cross-match of X-ray sources with optical DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys sources. The efficiency of the method is illustrated using the SRG/eROSITA Survey of Lockman Hole. To estimate the accuracy of the method, we have produced a validation sample based on the Chandra and XMM-Newton catalogues of X-ray sources. The cross-match precision in our method reaches 94% for the entire X-ray catalogue and 97% for sources with a flux $F_{\rm x, 0.5-2}>10^{-14}$ erg/s/cm$^2$. We discuss the further development of the optical identification model and the steps needed for its application to the SRG/eROSITA all-sky survey data., Astronomy Letters accepted for publication. 12 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables. Code will be available at https://github.com/SergeiDBykov/lockman_hole after the publication of the main catalog

The Fermi catalogue contains about 2000 unassociated $\gamma$-ray sources. Some of them were recently identified as pulsars, including so called redbacks and black widows, which are millisecond pulsars in tight binary systems with non- and partially-degenerate low-mass stellar companions irradiated by the pulsar wind. We study a likely optical and X-ray counterpart of the Fermi source 4FGL J2054.2+6904 proposed earlier as a pulsar candidate. We use archival optical data as well as Swift/XRT and SRG/eROSITA X-ray data to clarify its nature. Using Zwicky Transient Facility data in $g$ and $r$ bands spanning over 4.7 years, we find a period of $\approx$7.5 h. The folded light curve has a smooth sinusoidal shape with the peak-to-peak amplitude of $\approx$0.4 mag. The spectral fit to the optical spectral energy distribution of the counterpart candidate gives the star radius of 0.5$\pm$0.1$R_\odot$ and temperature of 5500$\pm$300 K implying a G2--G9-type star. Its X-ray spectrum is well fitted by an absorbed power law with the photon index of 1.0$\pm$0.3 and unabsorbed flux of $\approx 2\times10^{-13}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$. All the properties of 4FGL J2054.2$+$6904 and its presumed counterpart suggest that it is a member of the redback family., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 6 pages, 6 figures

We present a probabilistic model built for the optical cross-match between the SRG/eROSITA X-ray sources and photometric data from the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys. The model relies both on positional and photometric information on optical objects nearby X-ray sources and allows performing selection with precision and recall $\approx94$% (for $F_{\rm X,0.5-2}>10^{-14}$ erg/s/cm$^2$). With this model, we calibrated positional error of the SRG/eROSITA sources detected in the Lockman Hole: $\sigma_{\rm corr} = 0.87\sqrt{ \sigma_{\rm det}^{2.53} + 1.12^2}$. The model will become a part of the SRGz system for data analysis of the X-ray data obtained from the all-sky SRG/eROSITA survey., Comment: 19 pages, 18 figures, published in Astronomy Letters

The galaxy cluster SRGe CL2305.2$-$2248 (SPT-CL J2305$-$2248, ACT-CL J2305.1$-$2248) is one of the most massive clusters at high redshifts ($z \simeq 0.76$) and is of great interest for cosmology. For an optical identification of this cluster, deep images were obtained with the 1.5-m Russian-Turkish telescope RTT-150. Together with the open archival data of the Hubble Space Telescope, it became possible to identify candidates for gravitationally lensed images of distant blue galaxies in the form of arcs and arclets. The observed giant arc near the brightest cluster galaxies allowed us to estimate the radius of the Einstein ring, which is $ 9.8 \pm 1.3 $ arcseconds. The photometric redshift of the lensed source was obtained ($ z_s = 2.44 \pm 0.07 $). Its use in combination with the Einstein radius estimate made it possible to independently estimate the \cl2305 mass. It was done by extrapolating the strong lensing results to large radii and using the model density distribution profiles in relaxed clusters. This extrapolation leads to mass estimates $ \sim 1.5-3 $ times smaller than those obtained from X-ray and microwave observations. A probable cause for this discrepancy may be the process of cluster merging, which is also confirmed by SRGe CL2305.2-2248 morphology in the optical range., Comment: published in Astronomy Letters

The results of multiwavelength observations of the very massive galaxy cluster SRGe CL2305.2-2248 detected in X-rays during the first SRG/eROSITA all-sky survey are discussed. This galaxy cluster was also detected earlier in microwave band through the observations of Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect in South Pole Telescope (SPT-CL J2305-2248), and in Atacama Cosmological Telescope (ACT-CL J2305.1-2248) surveys. Spectroscopic redshift measurement, $z=0.7573$, was measured at the Russian 6-m BTA telescope of SAO RAS, in good agreement with its photometric estimates, including a very accurate one obtained using machine learning methods. In addition, deep photometric measurements were made at the Russian-Turkish 1.5-m telescope (RTT150), which allows to study cluster galaxies red sequence and projected galaxies distribution. Joint analysis of the data from X-ray and microwave observations show that this cluster can be identified as a very massive and distant one using the measurements of its X-ray flux and integral comptonization parameter only. The mass of the cluster estimated according to the eROSITA data is $M_{500}=(9.0\pm2.6)\cdot10^{14}\, M_\odot$. We show that this cluster is found among of only several dozen of the most massive clusters in the observable Universe and among of only a few the most massive clusters of galaxies at $z>0.6$., 10 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy Letters

We present the results of our identification of eight objects from the preliminary catalogue of X-ray sources detected in the 4-12 keV energy band by the Mikhail Pavlinsky ART-XC telescope onboard the SRG observatory during the first all-sky survey. Three of them (SRGA J005751.0+210846, SRGA J014157.0-032915, SRGA J232446.8+440756) have been discovered by the ART-XC telescope, while five have already been known previously as X-ray sources, but their nature has remained unestablished. The last five sources have also been detected in soft X-rays by the eROSITA telescope of the SRG observatory. Our optical observations have been carried out at the 1.6-m AZT-33IK telescope of the Sayan Observatory and the 1.5-m Russian-Turkish telescope (RTT-150). All of the investigated objects have turned out to be active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at redshifts from 0.019 to 0.283. Six of them are Seyfert 2 galaxies (including one Seyfert 1.9 galaxy), one (SRGA J005751.0+210846) is a "hidden" AGN (in an edge-on galaxy), and one (SRGA J224125.9+760343) is a narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy. The latter object is characterized by a high X-ray luminosity (similar to(2 - 13) x 10(44) erg s(-1) in the 4-12 keV band) and, according to our black hole mass estimate (similar to 2 x 10(7) M-circle dot), an accretion rate close to the Eddington limit. All three AGNs discovered by the ART-XC telescope (which are not detected by the eROSITA telescope) are characterized by a high absorption column density (N-H greater than or similar to 3 x 10(23) cm(-2)). The results obtained confirm the expectations that the ART-XC telescope is an efficient instrument in searching for heavily obscured and other interesting AGNs in the nearby (z less than or similar to 0.3) Universe. The SRG sky survey will last for another 3 years or more, which must allow many such objects to be discovered.

The results of multiwavelength observations of the very massive galaxy cluster SRGe CL2305.2-2248 detected in X-rays during the first SRG/eROSITA all-sky survey are discussed. This galaxy cluster has also been detected previously in the millimeter band in the South Pole Telescope (SPT-CL J2305-2248) and Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT-CL J2305.1-2248) surveys through the observation of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect. The spectroscopic redshift has been measured at the 6-m BTA telescope, z = 0.7573. In addition, deep photometric measurements of galaxies have been performed at the Russian-Turkish 1.5-m telescope (RTT-150). The mass of the cluster is estimated from the eROSITA data to be M-500 = (9.0 +/- 2.5) x 10(14) M-circle dot. We show that this cluster is among several tens of the most massive clusters in the observable Universe and among only a few most massive galaxy clusters at z > 0.6.

We present the results of our spectroscopic redshift measurements for galaxy clusters detected previously from Planck all-sky survey data as well as Sloan Digital Sky Survey and WISE all-sky survey data. The redshifts have been measured for 23 clusters, including four galaxy clusters from the second Planck catalogue of Sunyaev-Zeldovich sources. The main spectroscopic observations were carried out during 2019-early 2020 at the 1.6-m AZT-33IK telescope of the Sayan Observatory and the 1.5-m Russian-Turkish telescope (RTT-150). Some of the data have been obtained previously at the 3.5-m Calar Alto telescope. Out of the 23 clusters in this sample, 14 objects are located in the half of the sky where the rights to the data from the eROSITA sky survey onboard the SRG orbital X-ray observatory belong to the Russian side. All these clusters were detected with the eROSITA telescope in the course of the sky survey during 2020. On the whole, we have measured the spectroscopic redshifts for 220 galaxy clusters within our program of optical identifications of galaxy clusters from the Planck catalogue during several years. Many of them have already been detected in the SRG/eROSITA survey; a significant fraction of these objects are among the most massive galaxy clusters of the eROSITA sky survey and will most likely enter into cosmological samples of clusters from this survey.

Results of the spectroscopic observations at the 1.5-m Russian-Turkish telescope for another group of 12 X-ray sources discovered by the eROSITA telescope onboard the SRG space observatory and identified by the SRGz machine learning system as candidates for distant X-ray quasars are presented. Ten objects have been confirmed as quasars at redshifts z = 2.6-3.2 and two sources have turned out to be active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at z = 0.42 and 1.02.

We present the first results of our program of optical observations for galaxy clusters from the Lockman Hole X-ray survey with the eROSITA telescope onboard the SRG space observatory. We present the results of spectroscopic redshift measurements for 11 galaxy clusters that have been identified optically among the extended X-ray sources of the SRG/eROSITA survey using data from optical and infrared sky surveys. The spectroscopic observations were carried out in late 2019-early 2020 with the 1.6-m AZT-33IK telescope of the Sayan Observatory and the 6-m SAO RAS telescope (Bolshoi Teleskop Azimutalnyi, BTA).

We report a discovery of a new long-period X-ray pulsar SRGA J204318.2+443815/SRGe J204319.0+443820 in the Be binary system. The source was found in the second all-sky survey by the Mikhail Pavlinsky telescope on board the SRG mission. The follow-up observations with XMM-Newton, NICER and NuSTAR observatories allowed us to discover a strong coherent signal in the source light curve with the period of $\sim742$ s. The pulsed fraction was found to depend on the energy increasing from $\sim20$% in soft X-rays to $>50$% at high energies, as it is typical for X-ray pulsars. The source demonstrate a quite hard spectrum with an exponential cutoff at high energies and bolometric luminosity of $L_X \simeq 4\times10^{35}$ erg/s. Dedicated optical and infrared observations with the RTT-150, NOT, Keck and Palomar telescopes revealed a number of emission lines (H$_{\alpha}$, HeI, Pashen and Braket series) with the strongly absorbed continuum. All of above suggests that SRGAJ204318.2+443815/ SRGeJ204319.0+443820 is a new persistent low luminosity X-ray pulsar in a distant binary system with a Be-star of the B0-B2e class. Thus the SRG observatory allow us to unveil the hidden population of faint persistent objects including the population of slowly rotating X-ray pulsars in Be systems., Comment: Submitted to A&A for the Special Issue: The Early Data Release of eROSITA and Mikhail Pavlinsky ART-XC on the SRG Mission. 9 pages, 9 figures

Results of the first spectroscopic observations at the 1.5-m Russian-Turkish telescope for the X-ray sources discovered by the eROSITA telescope onboard the SRG space observatory and identified by the SRGz machine learning system as candidates for distant X-ray quasars are presented. Seven objects have been confirmed as quasars at redshifts z = 2.7- 4.2 and two sources, which were included in the program of optical observations aimed at testing and adjusting SRGz and had a significant uncertainty in the photometric redshift, have turned out to be Seyfert galaxies at z approximate to 0.6.

The results of GRANAT/SIGMA hard X-ray observations of GRS 1758-258 in 1990-1998 are presented. The source lies at ~5\arcdeg from the Galactic Center and was within the SIGMA field of view during the GRANAT surveys of this region. The total exposure time of the Galactic Center was 11x10^6 s. The regular SIGMA observations revealed strong variability of the source: the 40-150 keV flux varied at least by a factor of 8 on a time scale of a year, between less than 13 mCrab and ~100-110 mCrab. The average flux was ~60 mCrab in 1990-1998. The source's spectrum is well fitted by a power law with a photon index \alpha ~1.86 in the energy range 40 to 150 keV and becomes steeper at energies above ~100 keV. The radio and hard X-ray properties of GRS 1758-258 are similar to those of another Galactic Center source, 1E1740.7-2942. GRS 1758-258 and 1E1740.7-2942 are the two brightest hard X-ray sources in the Galactic Center region. Both sources have radio jets, similar X-ray luminosities (~10^37 erg/s), and spectra, and exhibit variations in the hard X-ray flux on long times scales by a factor of ~10 or more . In contrast to most of the known black hole candidates, which are X-ray transients, GRS 1758-258 and 1E1740.7-2942 were detected by SIGMA during most of the observations in 1990-1998. Assuming that this behavior of the sources implies the suppression of accretion-disk instability in the region of partial hydrogen ionization through X-ray heating, we impose constraints on the mass of the optical companion and on the orbital period of the binary system., Comment: 18 pages with 5 figures. Astronomy Letters, 1999, 25 (in press)