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

AO-24 Opening 20-Aug-2024

XMM-Newton Announcement of Opportunity (AO-24)

Letter of Invitation by the ESA Director of Science

Dear Colleague,

I am pleased to invite you to respond to the 24th Announcement of Opportunity to submit proposals for observations to be performed with the XMM-Newton observatory.

This Announcement solicits proposals to be carried out between May 2025 and April 2026. Proposers from institutes located worldwide are welcome to participate. All proposals will be subject to peer review by the XMM-Newton Observing Time Allocation Committee.

The detailed schedule of milestones of the announcement, the required software tools and the documentation are available from

http://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/ao24

I would appreciate if you would distribute this invitation to interested colleagues. I wish you every success in using the XMM-Newton observatory.

Yours sincerely,
Prof. Carole Mundell
Director of Science

Key milestones for this announcement

Announcement of Opportunity 20 August 2024
Due date for Proposals 11 October 2024 (12:00 UT)
Final OTAC approved program late December 2024

 

Timeline for Phase II proposal submission

After the cycle of proposal submission and selection, the observation details for successful proposals must be entered into the observatory system. This is done during "Phase II" proposal submission.

Find below for your information the anticipated timeline for that eventual Phase II:

Start of Phase II proposal submission 8 January 2025
Closure of Phase II proposal submission 31 January 2025

 

Further details on the XMM-Newton SOC web portal.

NASA telescopes work out black holeNASA telescopes work out black hole's feeding schedule 14-Aug-2024
By using new data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory as well as ESA's XMM-Newton, a team of researchers has made important headway in understanding how—and when—a supermassive black hole obtains and then consumes material. A paper describing these results appears on the arXiv preprint server, and will be published in The Astrophysical Journal.
Further details on Phys.org web portal.

Abell 2390XMM-Newton shows million-degree gas in Abell 2390 16-Jul-2024
Scientists have combined Euclid’s recently released image of the massive galaxy cluster Abell 2390 with XMM-Newton’s X-ray observation of the same site to showcase the blazing hot gas that fills the space between the galaxies. In the image, the light captured by XMM-Newton appears as a blue glow that permeates the expanses between the galaxies. The diffuse light is brighter towards the centre of the cluster, indicating that there the gas becomes hotter and more concentrated.
Further details on ESA web portal.

SupernovaFresh wind blows from historical supernova 5-Jul-2024
A mysterious remnant from a rare type of supernova recorded in 1181 has been explained for the first time. Two white dwarf stars collided, creating a temporary “guest star,” now labeled supernova (SN) 1181, which was recorded in historical documents in Japan and elsewhere in Asia. However, after the star dimmed, its location and structure remained a mystery until a team pinpointed its location in 2021.
Further details on UTokio web portal.