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GSFC XMM-Newton GOF Status Report #147: XMM-NEWTON NEWS #73



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_/            XMM-NEWTON NEWS #73   ---    15-Feb-2008            _/
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             XMM-Newton Science Operations Centre at
              ESA's European Space Astronomy Centre,
P.O. Box - Apdo. 78, 28691 Villanueva de la Canada, Madrid, Spain

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SOC Home Page:
  http://xmm.esac.esa.int/
Helpdesk web interface:
  http://xmm.esac.esa.int/external/xmm_user_support/helpdesk.shtml
Helpdesk email address:
  xmmhelp@sciops.esa.int
News Mailing List:
  http://xmm.esac.esa.int/external/xmm_user_support/xmm_news/

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Contents:

 - Anticipated timeline for next Announcement of Opportunity
 - 8th XMM-Newton SAS Workshop
 - Version 7.1.2 of the Science Analysis System (SAS) released
 - Cross-calibration Document Updated
 - Calibration Review Tool
 - XMM-Newton Conference "The X-ray Universe 2008": registration
   and abstract submission open
 - Please alert us to significant XMM-Newton results
 - Announcement of 37th COSPAR Scientific Assembly, Symposium E15
 - Announcement of Workshop: "XEUS: Physics of the Hot Evolving
   Universe"


Anticipated time line for next Announcement of Opportunity
==========================================================

The planned key milestones for the eighth XMM-Newton "Announcement
of Opportunity" have been established. Within this AO-8 a new call
to submit proposals for observations to be performed with the
XMM-Newton observatory will be issued.

To be prepared for this, please find below the anticipated time line:

Announcement of Opportunity     26 August 2008
Due date for proposals             10 October 2008 (12:00 UT)
Final OTAC approved programme     late December 2008

The official "Announcement of Opportunity" will be made public in
the XMM-Newton News and on the XMM-Newton Science Operations Centre
Home Page.


8th XMM-Newton SAS Workshop
===========================

The XMM-Newton Science Operations Centre announces the 8th SAS
Workshop, which will be held at the European Space Astronomy Centre
of ESA (Villafranca del Castillo, Spain) between the 24th and the
27th of June 2008.

SAS Workshops aim at providing XMM-Newton users with a basic
introduction to the procedures and techniques to successfully
reduce and analyse XMM-Newton data. The 4-day workshop is organised
around 4 half-days of presentations and 4 half-days of practical
training sessions. They cover all aspects of data reduction and data
analysis for all the X-ray cameras on-board XMM-Newton, as well as
for its Optical Monitor.

Interested persons are encouraged to send an email to:

xmmhelp@sciops.esa.int, specifying in the subject line:

Subject: Interest in participating in the 8th XMM-Newton SAS
        Workshop

and providing the following information:

Name                   :
Organisation           :
Address                :
Country                :
Phone                  :
Fax                    :
E-mail                 :

No fee is required to attend the Workshop. We regret to inform that
no financial support is available for Workshop participants.

Readers may find more information at the following URL:

http://xmm.esac.esa.int/external/xmm_sw_cal/sas_workshop8/


Version 7.1.2 of the Science Analysis System (SAS) released
===========================================================

The last major version of SAS (7.1.0) was released in July 2007.
Since then two general patches affecting a number of SAS tasks have
been distributed. These patches correct some deficiencies and a
patched SAS release has been assigned the version number 7.1.2 for
clarity.

The number of tasks being patched simultaneously has led to a
somewhat difficult situation which leaves the user subject to
error during the installation process. To limit the
likelihood of errors occurring during installation, we have
simplified the entire intallation process, by providing a single
downloadable file for each supported operating system.

The downloaded file contains a shell script ("install.sh") that
locally installs all SAS release components, including available
patches.

For further, and more detailed instruction, please visit the SAS web
portal (http://xmm.esac.esa.int/sas/).

Finally, some good news for MacIntel users: the SAS 7.1.2 binaries,
originally built for Mac OS X on a PowerPC, have been successfully
tested on Mac OS X Intel machines. The SAS team thanks the Apple
Rosetta translator software. A complete description on how to
install SAS on Mac Os X Intel machines is available on the SAS web
portal.


Cross calibration document updated
==================================

Version 5.0 of the XMM-Newton cross-calibration document has been
released. This document reflects the status of the cross-calibration
among all XMM-Newton instruments using SAS7.1.0 and the newest
Calibration Files (CCFs). The document is available from the
XMM-Newton Calibration Portal at:

http://xmm.esac.esa.int/docs/documents/CAL-TN-0052-5-0.ps.gz


Calibration Review Tool
=======================

The Calibration Review Tool provides an overview of the XMM-Newton
internal cross-calibration and the cross-calibration with XMM-Newton
and Chandra for different calibration versions (SAS+CCF). Joint and
individual fits to spectra obtained from various observations are
available for comparison. Histograms showing the flux estimation
from all the XMM-Newton X-ray instruments for a number of sources
and in different energy bands are presented as well.

The Calibration Review Tool is available from the XMM-Newton cross
calibration page:

http://xmm.esac.esa.int/external/xmm_sw_cal/calib/cross_cal/index.php


XMM-Newton Conference "The X-ray Universe 2008":
registration and abstract submission open
================================================

As announced in issue #71 of the XMM-Newton Newsletter, the
XMM-Newton Science Operations Centre is organising a major
astrophysical symposium from Tuesday 27th to Friday 30th May
2008 in Granada, Spain.

The symposium will be a successor to the "The X-ray Universe 2005"
meeting held in 2005 near Madrid and its main focus will be on high
energy astrophysics. It will provide a showcase for results and
discoveries not only from XMM-Newton, Chandra and Suzaku but also
from other current missions. The scientific potential of future
projects like XEUS will be discussed at the conference.

DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACT SUBMISSION IS 7 of MARCH.

More information can be found at:

http://xmm.esac.esa.int/external/xmm_science/workshops/2008symposium/


Please alert us to significant XMM-Newton results
=================================================

The XMM-Newton team does not have dedicated resources to
systematically monitor astro-ph and the published literature for
exciting new results. Therefore we rely on our observers to alert us
about interesting new material. ESA does have a team of public
affairs officers who will help arrange appropriate publicity, but
they can only go to work once they know a result is available.
Please remember that the public strongly supports astronomy in part
because they enjoy seeing the fruit of our work!

Please contact us through the helpdesk: xmmhelp@sciops.esa.int


Announcement of 37th COSPAR Scientific Assembly, Symposium E15
==============================================================

The COSPAR organisation is pleased to announce the Symposium E15
of the 37th COSPAR Scientific Assembly on:

"Probing Strong Gravity and Dense Matter with X-rays"

to be held on July 13-20th 2008 in Montreal, Canada.

A 4 half-day session will be organised during the COSPAR Scientific
Assembly to review the recent breakthroughs in strong gravity and
dense matter achieved with X-ray data from operating satellites
(e.g. RXTE, XMM-Newton, Chandra, Suzaku), and discuss innovative
ideas for follow-up instruments beyond existing ones.

Deadline for abstract submission is 17 February 2008.

More information is available at:

http://www.cospar2008.org/
http://www.cospar-assembly.org/


Announcement of workshop: XEUS: Physics of the Hot Evolving Universe
====================================================================

ESA is pleased to announce the workshop:

"XEUS - Physics of the Hot Evolving Universe workshop"

which will be held on March 5-6th 2008 in ESTEC, Noordwijk, The
Netherlands.

XEUS is the potential successor to XMM-Newton and is under study by
ESA, following selection as part of the Cosmic Vision process. The
science drivers for XEUS include the evolution of large-scale
structure, co-evolution of galaxies and their super-massive black
holes, matter under extreme conditions and observatory science.
The workshop is part of the preparations for the start of the study
activities and will help interested scientists to contribute to the
mission definition, and interested partner agencies identify those
areas where they would like to contribute. All parties interested in
the science and technology related to XEUS are encouraged to
participate. There is no registration fee.

The deadline for submission of abstracts is 15 February 2008 but
registrations will continue to be accepted after this date.

More information is available at:

http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=42220



Yours sincerely,
XMM-Newton SOC


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