The relevance of galactic X‐ray astronomy to the study of compact stellar objects is discussed. After some general remarks about X‐ray astronomy, a brief picture of the X‐ray sky is presented. Finally, a more detailed discussion of two specific galactic X‐ray sources is presented. Observations of Cygnus X‐1 and Hercules X‐1 are discussed in the light of their possible identification with a black hole and a neutron star respectively.