Welcome to the XMM-Newton Science Operations Centre

 

The European Space Agency's (ESA) X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) was launched by an Ariane 504 on December 10th 1999. XMM-Newton is ESA's second cornerstone of the Horizon 2000 Science Programme. It carries 3 high throughput X-ray telescopes with an unprecedented effective area, and an optical monitor, the first flown on a X-ray observatory. The large collecting area and ability to make long uninterrupted exposures provide highly sensitive observations.

Since Earth's atmosphere blocks out all X-rays, only a telescope in space can detect and study celestial X-ray sources. The XMM-Newton mission is helping scientists to solve a number of cosmic mysteries, ranging from the enigmatic black holes to the origins of the Universe itself. Observing time on XMM-Newton is being made available to the scientific community, applying for observational periods on a competitive basis.

Read more about the spacecraft, mirrors and instruments and about the XMM-Newton SOC.

News and Highlights

X-ray observations 13-March-2025
Astronomers discover new supergiant fast X-ray transient, expanding rare class
Using ESA's XMM-Newton satellite, Italian astronomers have identified a new supergiant fast X-ray transient (SFXT), designated 4XMM J181330.1-175110 (J1813). SFXTs are a rare subclass of high-mass X-ray binaries characterized by brief, intense X-ray flares lasting from minutes to over an hour, typically involving a compact object accreting material from the clumpy wind of a blue supergiant companion. J1813 was initially undetected during its quiescent state but exhibited multiple X-ray flares during an active phase, with peak luminosities (in the 2–12 keV band) ranging from 10 to 400 decillion erg/s. Analysis suggests that J1813 harbors a heavily absorbed B-type star with an effective temperature of approximately 32,000 K, located between 22,800 and 42,400 light-years away. This discovery expands the known population of SFXTs, providing further insights into these rare and enigmatic systems.
Further details on Phys.org web portal.

X-ray observations 04-March-2025
X-ray signal from Helix Nebula points to planet destroyed by white dwarf
Using ESA's XMM-Newton satellite, astronomers have analyzed an unusual X-ray signal from the white dwarf WD 2226-210 at the center of the Helix Nebula. The study, published on March 4, 2025, suggests that the X-rays result from debris of a Jupiter-sized planet being pulled onto the white dwarf's surface, indicating the planet's destruction. This observation, along with data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, provides evidence of a planet being consumed by its star, offering insights into the fate of planetary systems as stars evolve.
Further details on Phys.org web portal.

X-ray observations 28-Feb-2025
Astronomers Uncover Key Evidence for the Existence of Intermediate-Mass Black Hole
A team of Chinese researchers has detected, for the first time, an X-ray quasi-periodic signal from a tidal disruption event (TDE) involving an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH). Using ESA's XMM-Newton satellite, the researchers observed an 85-second oscillating X-ray signal from a previously suggested IMBH TDE candidate. The findings, published on February 28, 2025, in Nature Astronomy, provide crucial evidence supporting the existence of IMBHs — a missing link between stellar-mass and supermassive black holes. The black hole is estimated to have a mass between 9,900 and 16,000 solar masses, placing it within the predicted range for IMBHs. This discovery opens new possibilities for detecting and studying IMBHs through X-ray timing analysis of TDEs.
Further details on nao.cas web portal.

X-ray observations 19-Feb-2025
Observations of Young Stellar Object HL Tauri Using XMM-Newton and Chandra
Using ESA's XMM-Newton satellite and NASA's Chandra X-ray observatory, astronomers have observed a young stellar object known as HL Tauri. Results of the observation campaign, presented Feb. 11 on the arXiv pre-print server, yield important insights into long-term X-ray variability and properties of this object. HL Tauri, located approximately 450 light-years away in the Taurus constellation, is a protoplanetary disk system that has garnered significant interest due to its potential for planet formation.
Further details on Phys.org web portal.

XMMSL3 Catalogue 19-Feb-2025
The third version of the XMM-Newton slew survey catalogue (XMMSL3) is now out
The third version of the XMM-Newton slew survey catalogue, XMMSL3, has been released on 19th February 2025 by the XMM-Newton Survey Science Centre (XMM-SSC) in collaboration with the SOC. This version includes an extra 8.5 years of data with respect to XMMSL3. There are 140735 X-ray detections which relate to 116598 unique sources, doubling the number of detections available in the previous version, XMMSL2. These detections come from 3120 pn slew observations that were taken by the 23rd August 2023. This catalogue version covers more than 90% of the sky, where some regions of the sky have been pointed as many as 78 times. Around 8% of all the detections are classified as extended. The median positional uncertainty of the catalogue detections is 13 arcseconds. Mean fluxes in the catalogue are ~2.8E-12 and ~6.5E-11 erg/cm²/s in the soft (0.2-2 keV) and hard (2-12 keV) X-ray band, respectively.

Details of the catalogue, the catalogue files and full XMMSL3 documentation are available on the XMM-SSC webpages at:
     http://xmmssc.irap.omp.eu/Catalogue/XMMSL3/XMMSL3.html

FITS and CSV versions of the full XMMSL3 catalogue are also available for download at
     http://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/xsa

Alongside the XSA user interface, XMMSL3 is also distributed through:
The XMM-Newton XSA : http://nxsa.esac.esa.int/nxsa-web/#search
ESASky : https://sky.esa.int/esasky/
HEASARC Browse : http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/db-perl/W3Browse/w3browse.pl

Further details on our XMM-Newton SSC web portal.

Supernova remnants 06-Feb-2025
XMM-Newton finds two stray supernova remnants
When the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton pointed its telescope at two unidentified sources of light in the outskirts of the Large Magellanic Cloud, scientists were able to confirm what seemed an unlikely discovery. They found two supernova remnants in the far reaches of our neighbouring galaxy. The two objects that XMM-Newton looked at are shown as the two circles in the lower left of this visible-light image of the Large Magellanic Cloud. Click on the two circles to make the newly-discovered supernova remnants appear: J0624-6948 (orange, higher in the image) and J0614-7251 (blue, lower in the image). The yellow crosses represent supernova remnants that had been found before.
Further details on esa.int web portal.