We report the near-infrared ( IR ) identification of the likely counterpart to X1908+075 , a highly-absorbed Galactic X-ray source recently suspected to belong to the rare class of OB supergiant-neutron star binary systems .
Our JHK _ { s } -band imaging of the field reveals the existence within the X-ray error boxes of a near-IR source consistent with an early-type star lying at d \sim 7 kpc and suffering A _ { V } \sim 16 mag of extinction , the latter value being in good agreement with the hydrogen column density derived from a modelling of the X-ray spectrum .
Our follow-up , near-IR spectroscopic observations confirm the nature of this candidate and lead to a late O-type supergiant classification , thereby supporting the identification of a new Galactic OB-supergiant X-ray binary .