XMM-Newton-NEWS

CONTENTS

• Version 18.0 of the Science Analysis System (SAS) released
• Data analysis threads for SAS v18.0
• Scientific validation report for SAS v18.0
• XSA v11.2 release including an RGS spectra visualiser
• Follow XMM-Newton on Twitter and Facebook

VERSION 18.0 OF THE SCIENCE ANALYSIS SYSTEM (SAS) RELEASED

The XMM-Newton SAS team is pleased to announce the release of a new version of the SAS: SAS v18.0.

Binaries for diverse flavours of Linux and Mac OS X are available at

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

The main improvements of this release can be summarised as follows:

• To help users avoid producing EPIC spectra which can not be processed by later software (e.g. spectra created with a non-standard pattern selection or a non-standard PI range and binning), a number of warning and error messages have been added to the SAS. In particular, the matrix generation task rmfgen exits with an error message if it can not produce a matrix for a particular input spectrum.
• The extension likelihood, EXT_ML, is now set by the task emldetect for all sources. Also, an estimate of the pile-up level is made for each source, and for each instrument, and written into a new column in the output source list.
• The systematic error in catcorr has been set to 1.29 arcsec (from the previous value of 1.5 arcsec) for fields which have not been corrected by adjusting to standard catalogues.
• An oval-shaped area of the Optical Monitor (OM) has experienced a drop in sensitivity due to exposure to Jupiter. This area has been flagged within the OM_BADPIX_0008 CCF, to distinguish it from bad pixels in the quality map extensions of some OM image products, and flag values of sources in OM source lists
• the task omgrism has been modified to apply a time-dependent sensitivity correction to OM grism fluxed spectra and insert a keyword, TDS_CORR, into the primary header of the spectrum FITS file to convey the value. The sensitivity correction has been introduced in the OM_GRISM_0005 CCF.
• An artificial restriction of OM image size to 3000x3000 pixels has been removed in the omdetect task.
• All Radiation Monitor (RM) data relevant to an observation can now be merged into a single file by the task radmonfix. The output file contains count rate and spectral data from the RM, indexed on Mission time, MJD and FITS time.

This version of SAS is released in two 64-bit binary versions for Linux (RHEL 6.8 and Ubuntu 16.04), and one for Mac OS X (Sierra). These versions have been tested and found to run correctly on several other platforms including CentOs 7.3, High Sierra and Mojave.

DATA ANALYSIS THREADS FOR SAS V18.0

SAS analysis threads have been revised to ensure compatibility with SAS v18.0.

SAS Threads can be found at

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

SCIENTIFIC VALIDATION REPORT FOR SAS V18.0

The results of the scientific validation of SAS v18.0 have been summarised in a report available under the SAS Scientific Validation page

     https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/sas-validation
 

XSA V11.2 RELEASE INCLUDING AN RGS SPECTRA VISUALISER

A new version of the XMM-Newton Science Archive (XSA v11.2) is available at

     http://nxsa.esac.esa.int/nxsa-web/
 

This release includes an RGS spectra visualiser with, among others, the following options:

• Plot all or the average of the RGS fluxed spectra of selected observations.
• Apply a redshift correction to the wavelength scale to display the spectrum in the rest frame.
• Display two predefined sets of spectral lines overlaid on the spectra.

FOLLOW XMM-NEWTON ON TWITTER AND FACEBOOK

The XMM-Newton SOC is working on increasing the Social Media presence of the satellite, the team, and its science.

Find XMM-Newton on Twitter at @esa_xmm and on Facebook under XMM-Newton Satellite.

We post regularly about current operations, exciting scientific results, and updates to the software and the archive. Feel free to like and share XMM-Newton's posts and connect with us online.

Yours sincerely,

XMM-Newton SOC