XMM-Newton Science Analysis System: Users' Guide

2.8 SAS input and output files

The SAS commands process input and output data in the form of datasets. These are usually saved on disk as FITS files.

FITS files have a primary header, a primary image array and optional extensions, each with a header. In the case of the XMM-Newton FITS files, the primary header contain information about the mission, the instrument, the observation mode, the investigator, the target coordinates, the observation date and initial processing information. In all FITS headers, the information is in the form of keywords with assigned values.

For a detailed description of the XMM-Newton files (including format, content, keywords ...etc), the user is referred to the XMM-Newton Data File Handbook [8] which can be accessed from the XMM-Newton web page at:

http://xmm.esac.esa.int/external/xmm_user_support/documentation/

It is important to note that the naming convention of XMM-Newton files is slightly different from that historically used for FITS files. Table 2 provides a handy ``conversion table'' between the two nomenclatures.

Table 2: ``Conversion table'' between FITS and XMM-Newton dataset constituents naming convention

FITS name	XMM-Newton dataset name
Header	Header
Primary Header Data Units/Array	First Data Block/Primary Array
Extension	Data block
Image	Array
Binary Table	Table
Keyword	Attribute
Column/Rows	Column/Rows