NICERMASTR - NICER Master Catalog

Overview

This table records high-level information for the observations obtained with NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition ExploreR) and provides access to the NICER data archive. NICER is a NASA Explorer program Mission of Opportunity dedicated to the study of the neutron stars, exploring the exotic states of matter where density and pressure are higher than in atomic nuclei. NICER instrument is a payload aboard the International Space Station (ISS). It was launched on 3 June 2017 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and placed on the ISS. Normal operation started on 17 July 2017 after a commission phase to test the system and perform initial calibration.

NICER's X-ray Timing Instrument (XTI) consists of an aligned collection of 56 X-ray "concentrator" optics (XRC) and silicon drift detector (SDD) pairs working in the energy range of 0.2-12 keV. Each XRC collects X-rays over a large geometric area from a roughly 30 arcmin² region of the sky and focuses them onto a small SDD. The SDD detects individual photons, recording both energies (with a 3% energy resolution at 6 keV) and high precision times (with 100 nanoseconds RMS relative to Universal Time).

During one day of operation, NICER monitors several sources. For each observed source the data are divided into intervals of one day and labeled with a sequence number. This database table contains one record for each sequence number and includes parameters related to the observation.

Bulletin

The NICERMASTR database table was last updated on 20 November 2024.

References

The Neutron star Interior Composition ExploreR (NICER): Design and Development:
    Gendreau, K.C., Arzoumanian, Z. et al. 2016, Proc. SPIE 9905,
    Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2016: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray,
    99051H (22 July 2016)

Provenance

This contents of this database table are generated at the NICER Science and Mission Operations Center (SMOC) and updated regularly with new observations. Note that some fields have been added and are populated by the HEASARC.

Parameters

Name
This is the designation of the pointed target.

RA
Right Ascension of the pointing position. Note that the pointing position can be different from the target position.

Dec
Declination of the pointing position. Note that the pointing position can be different from the target position.

LII
Galactic Longitude of the pointing position. Note that the pointing position can be different from the target position. This parameter has been added by the HEASARC and is calculated from the J2000 pointing position.

BII
Galactic Latitude of the pointing position. Note that the pointing position can be different from the target position. This parameter has been added by the HEASARC and is calculated from the J2000 pointing position.

Time
The start time of the observation.

End_Time
The time corresponding to the end of the observation.

ObsID
The unique number to identify an observation/sequence. This is a 10-digit number.

Orig_Target_ID
The original target identifier is a number assigned by the NICER planning system to each target. It is not unique. Different observations of the same target may have associated different target identifier numbers.

Target_ID
The unique target identifier is a number assigned after the NICER data processing. This number is unique and all observations of a specific target always have associated the same target identifier number. If the unique value has not yet been assigned, the value is set to -1.

Target_RA
Right Ascension of the target position. This is the position of the target used by the NICER planning system.

Target_Dec
Declination of the target position. This is the position of the target used by the NICER planning system.

Exposure
The effective total observation exposure, in seconds, after data cleaning.

Time_Awarded
The time awarded for this target, in seconds. The value of zero is assigned to all observations that are not part of the Guest Observer program.

MPU0_Exposure
The unfiltered exposure (in seconds) for the MPU0 (Measurement Power Unit).

MPU1_Exposure
The unfiltered exposure (in seconds) for the MPU1 (Measurement Power Unit).

MPU2_Exposure
The unfiltered exposure (in seconds) for the MPU2 (Measurement Power Unit).

MPU3_Exposure
The unfiltered exposure (in seconds) for the MPU3 (Measurement Power Unit).

MPU4_Exposure
The unfiltered exposure (in seconds) for the MPU4 (Measurement Power Unit).

MPU5_Exposure
The unfiltered exposure (in seconds) for the MPU5 (Measurement Power Unit).

MPU6_Exposure
The unfiltered exposure (in seconds) for the MPU6 (Measurement Power Unit).

Num_FPM
The number of Focal Plain Modules (FPM) after the data screening.

Processing_Status
This records the status of the processing of the data from the observation. The strings are VALIDATED, PROCESSED, or NOTPROCESSED. If the string is VALIDATED implies that the data are located in the archive. If the string is PROCESSED implies that the data have been processed but not validated yet. If the string is NOTPROCESSED implies that the data have not been processed.

Processing_Date
This parameter records the date when the data were last processed.

Public_Date
This is the date when the data became public.

Processing_Version
This records the version of the processing script used in the pipeline to generate the data products for the observation.

Num_Processed
This records the number of times a data set has been processed.

CALDB_Version
This records the version of the NICER CALDB version. This is encoded as genYYYYMMDD_xtiYYYYMMDD, such that YYYYMMDD represents the date of the index file.

Software_Version
This records the version of the HEAsoft and NICER software used in the processing pipeline to generate the data products of the observation.

Prnb
This number uniquely identifies the proposal that originated the observation.

Abstract
This parameter contains a short description of the aim of the observation.

Subject_Category
The subject category is a string that identifies the type of object observed by NICER and associated to this sequence number. These strings have the following meanings:

       BURST     : Observations of X-ray burst sources
       CAL       : Calibration observations
       DIR       : Director's discretionary time
       ENG       : Engineering data (generally non-science)
       LCM       : Observations of pulsar lightcurves (useful for modeling)
       MAGNETAR  : Observations of magnetars
       OSWG      : Observatory Science Working Group observations
       SEARCH    : X-ray pulse search targets
       TIMING    : Pulsar observations having to do with calibration of
                     absolute timing

Category_Code
Each subject category is assigned a numerical code, and this field contains that numerical value for the specified subject category.

PI_LName
The last name of the proposal's Principal Investigator.

PI_FName
The first name of the proposal's Principal Investigator.

Cycle
The cycle number of the proposal. The value of 0 is used for the check-out phase, corresponding to the first observing month.

Obs_Type
The type of observation. Possible values and their respective meanings: NOR for a normal observation, CAL for a calibration observation with the detector in nominal configuration, CALOFFNOM for a calibration observation with the detector not in the nominal configuration, and DDT for discretionary director time. The CALOFFNOM observations have the first four digits of the obsid set to A014 where A is the cycle number (e.g. 1, 2, 3..). These observations can not be analyzed with the standard methods. The values NOR-TOO, CAL-TOO, and DDT-TOO are assigned if the observation is also a target of opportunity.

Title
The title of the proposal that originated the observation.

Coordinated
This flag parameter is a numeric value that indicates whether or not the observation has been coordinated with other observatories.

Facility
If the observation was coordinated, this parameter contains the name of the observatory that performed this observation in coordination with NICER.

Galactic_NH
Galactic HI neutral density in units of cm^-2. This value is estimated using the HI 4-pi survey (HP4PI).

Target_Class
The parameter identifies the type of source observed.

Remarks
Additional remarks concerning the observation.

Contact Person

Questions regarding the NICERMASTR database table can be addressed to the HEASARC Help Desk.

Page Author: Browse Software Development Team
Last Modified: Monday, 16-Sep-2024 17:32:17 EDT