XMM-Newton-NEWS

Contents:

• Users Group Meeting #17: Invitation from UG chair to contact them
• XSA v9.0 released
• New Pipeline processing based on SASv15.0
• Web page with XMM-Newton related Ph.D. available
• Conference Announcement:"ULXs and Their Environments"

Users Group Meeting #17: Invitation from UG chair to contact them

The XMM-Newton Users Group (UG) will be holding its yearly meeting this coming June 7^th and 8^th, at ESAC in Spain.

As is usual the UG welcomes all comments and suggestions on any relevant aspect of XMM-Newton operations and future direction. You may send these either directly to me, or if you prefer to any member of the UG.

I would like to note that later this year we will be seeking a mission extension for the XMM-Newton project. In this context there was a recent meeting titled "XMM-Newton: The Next Decade", held at ESAC, with 150 participants. This meeting included more than 100 talks, posters and panel discussions, covering the diverse aspects of XMM-Newton science. It is clear that new areas ideally suited to XMM-Newton's strengths, are opening up all the time. As a consequence we should consider how best to exploit these opportunities in terms of modifications to time allocation strategy and scheduling procedures. The community will be given the chance to contribute to this debate, as well as suggesting which areas of science should be emphasised. As a start of this process the community is invited to submit initial thoughts to the UG, via Norbert Schartel, for consideration at the next UG meeting.

With the community's help, we will strive to ensure the continuation of XMM-Newton's unique contribution to astrophysics.


Martin Ward, UG-Chair


The agenda for UG meeting #17 and contact information of the UG chair and all the other UG members are available at

     http://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/ug-agenda-2016

and

     http://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/users-group-members
 

XSA v9.0 released

A new version of the XMM-Newton Science Archive (XSAv9.0) is available at

     http://nxsa.esac.esa.int/

The most important changes are:

• New columns can be selected for display in the different Results tabs.
• OM combined images are shown in the Observation Details panel. They can also be displayed in the Observations Results panel.
• The new pipeline product "EPIC 3 Colour Image" is shown instead of the EPIC combined image, when available.
• More command line and URL options have been added to directly access XSA data, see http://nxsa.esac.esa.int/nxsa-web/#aio
• A new XSA Table Access Protocol (TAP) has been implemented, allowing access to the XSA database information.
• Links to XCat-DB (http://xcatdb.unistra.fr) information are provided for 3XMM-DR5 sources.

New Pipeline processing based on SAS15.0

A new version of the pipeline processing software for XMM-Newton data

     http://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/pipeline

was released on April 28^th. This pipeline is based on SASv15.0 and its main novelties are source detection on OM stacked images and a new algorithm to define the background extraction regions associated to EPIC-pn sources.

A detailed description as well as a summary of the changes with respect to the previous pipeline can be found in the release notes

     http://xmm-tools.cosmos.esa.int/external/xmm_products/pipeline/doc/15.23_20160428_1630/current.summary

The document that describes the pipeline products has been updated accordingly. It can be found at:

     http://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/documentation
 

Web page with XMM-Newton related Ph.D. available

As announced in Newsletter #182, details about doctorates and Ph.D. theses based on (or making use of) XMM-Newton observations are now publicly available at

     http://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/phd-theses

We invite you, being a candidate or supervisor of such a doctorate, to check for correctness and inform us by 1^st June 2016 about any change request. Please do so by filling an electronic form accessible from the same page.

For additional and future entries to our list, please, continue using that form, even after the deadline.
 

Conference announcement: "ULXs and Their Environments"

The workshop "ULXs and Their Environments" will take place at the Observatoire de Strasbourg (France), from the 13^th to the 16^th of June 2016. The purpose of this workshop is to present recent progress on ULX science, with emphasis on discussions.

Topics to be addressed include, among others: new theories and observations of disk accretion and outflows; feedback, bubbles, and jet/wind interactions with the ISM; hyperluminous, ultrasoft and transient ULXs; stellar evolution leading to a ULX population; searches for radio and UV/optical/IR counterparts; plans for future XMM-Newton, Chandra, Swift and NuSTAR studies (and, in the long term, Athena).

Further information can be found at

     https://indico.in2p3.fr/event/12665

 

Yours sincerely,
XMM-Newton SOC