The nearby barred spiral galaxy NGC 1313 has been observed with the PS
PC instrument on board the ROSAT X-ray satellite. Ten individual sourc
es are found. Three sources (X-1, X-2, and X-3 [SN 1978K]) are very br
ight (similar to 10(40) ergs s(-1)) and are unusual in that analogous
objects do not exist in our Galaxy. We present an X-ray image of NGC 1
313 and X-ray spectra for the three bright sources. The emission from
the nuclear region (R less than or similar to 2 kpc) is dominated by s
ource X-1, which is located similar to 1 kpc north of the photometric
(and dynamical) center of NGC 1313. Optical, far-infrared, and radio i
mages do not indicate the presence of an active galactic nucleus at th
at position; however, the compact nature of the X-ray source (X-1) sug
gests that it is an accretion-powered object with central mass M great
er than or similar to 10(3) M.. Additional emission (L(x) similar to 1
0(39) ergs s(-1)) in the nuclear region extends out to similar to 2.6
kpc and roughly follows the spiral arms. This emission is from four so
urces with luminosity of several x 10(38) ergs s(-1) two of which are
consistent with emission from Population I sources (e.g., supernova re
mnants, and hot interstellar gas which has been heated by supernova re
mnants). The other two sources could be emission from Population II so
urces (e.g., low-mass X-ray binaries). The bright sources X-2 and SN 1
978K are positioned in the southern disk of NGC 1313. X-2 is variable
and has no optical counterpart brighter than 20.8 mag (V-band). It is
likely that it is an accretion-powered object in NGC 1313. The Type II
supernova SN 1978K (Ryder et al. 1993) has become extraordinarily lum
inous in X-rays similar to 13 yr after optical maximum.