XMM-Newton SAS Team releases version 7.1.0

The XMM-Newton SAS team is very pleased to announce the release of a new version of the SAS: SAS 7.1.0

Binaries for diverse flavours of Linux, Solaris and MacOs are available, a virtual machine running on Microsoft Windows allowing to run SAS 7.1.0 will follow shortly.

The main changes in this version with respect to the former version, SAS 7.0.0, are:

EPIC

  • general upgrade of EPIC source detection routines, as performed for the extraction of the 2XMM sources catalogue,
  • new task espfilt for soft proton and flare screening,
  • EPIC PN temperature dependent gain correction introduced, to cope with the correlation of the pn gain with the temperature of the quadrant box electronics,
  • PN FIFO reset correction implemented: to correct effective exposure time after resets, happening when saturation of detectors on chip amplifier stage causes a FIFO overflow,
  • introduction of master offset tables for enabling correction of spatial energy shifts by PN
  • the package lccorr has been momentarily removed from the public distribution, due to deficiencies. These will be corrected in the near future and the task will be again available.

RGS

  • new task rgslccorr for light curve background subtraction and exposure correction
  • new task rgsfluxmodel for exporting RGS flux spectrum as model to be used eg. by Xspec
  • rgscombine and rgssuperrmf able to use also background from modelling
  • recognition and proper handling of data taken in single readout node sub-mode

OM

  • OM grisms data processing has been improved in the following areas:
    • improved astrometry: RA & Dec for the zero orders is more accurate
    • possible shifts in the wavelength scale have been reduced
    • better detection of the spectrum in field spectroscopy mode and better handling when spectra are close together
    • fainter spectra are now extracted
    • new method in the interactive omgsource
  • new task, omphotom for interactive photometry. It can be used in image and fast modes and is particularly adapted for crowded fields in both modes. It complements the existing omsource.

CCF

Please note that a new calibration constituent file is needed for the improvement achieved by the correction of spatial energy shifts for EPIC PN: EPN_REJECT_0004.CCF

For further details on obtaining SAS 7.1.0 please visit our SAS Pages