IUE has been used to study 11 high luminosity X-ray binaries, of which 3 are in the Magellanic Clouds. In the supergiant systems, X-ray ionisation bubbles have been found in most cases, leading to a greater understanding of the winds and accretion processes. Further studies of precessing objects such as LMC X-4 with IUE and ST are clearly of considerable interest, relating to X-ray heating and blanketing. Detailed studies of the Cyg X-l ionisation bubble may resolve the long standing puzzle of its orbit inclination and masses. UV continua have furnished valuable information on extinction, temperatures and luminosities, and the presence of non-stellar (i.e. disk) luminosity. Here too, more detailed studies are clearly indicated for the future. A unique object of interest is the LMC transient 0538-66 whose UV spectrum has quasarlike lines and luminosity which varies oppositely to the visible. This may be a case of supercritical accretion generating an optically thick shell (“disk”) about the pulsar.
The X-ray source populations of the magellanic clouds
