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High Energy Cross-Calibration Information

Targets

Astrophysical objects which have been used for instrument calibration include the following:

ASCA Calibration Targets

ASCA has used the following targets for the following purposes:

Chandra Calibration Targets

Chandra uses the following targets, as listed in Issue #10 of the Chandra Newsletter

  Calibration Targets 
Target Detector Objective 
Cas A ACIS and HRC Monitor the gain and spectral resolution of the CCDs. Monitor the QE and QE uniformity of the HRC. Cross-calibration between the focal plane detectors.
G21.5-09 ACIS and HRC Monitor the QE and QE uniformity of the detectors. Cross-calibration between the focal plane detectors and other X-ray telescopes.
E0102-72 ACIS Measure the effects of increasing CTI on gain and spectral resolution. Monitor the degradation in low energy QE.
HZ43 LETG/HRC-I
LETG/HRC-S 		Monitor the HRC-I low energy QE and the throughput of LETG/HRC-S at low energies.
Coma HRC-I Monitor the QE, QE uniformity and degap map.
ArLac HRC Measure small scale gain variations across the detectors.
Betelgeuse
Vega 		ACIS, HRC Monitor the optical/UV transmission of the detector filters
Capella LETG/HRC-S
HETG/ACIS-S 		Monitor the gratings dispersion relation and LSF.
PKS2155-304 LETG/ACIS-S
HETG/ACIS-S
LETG/HRC-S 		Cross-calibration. Monitor the build-up of contaminant on ACIS and the HRC-S QE uniformity.
3C273 LETG/ACIS-S
HETG/ACIS-S 		Cross-calibration and monitoring the low energy absorption on ACIS.

NuSTAR Calibration Targets

  • 3C273: Simultaneously observed on July 16 2012 by NuSTAR, XMM, Swift, Suzaku, and INTEGRAL, for cross-calibration purposes.

ROSAT Calibration Targets

  • N132D, HZ 43, Crab Nebula, AR Lac, the "Meaty" Source (aka RE 1629+781, a white dwarf discovered by the ROSAT WFC, see Pye, 1996, MPE Report 263,627 & Cooke et al., 1992, Nature 355, 61), Vela SNR, Cyg X-2, Cyg X-3, A 2256, LMC X-1, LMC X-2, Cas A, MKN 421, Beta Car, Beta Leo, Vega, GD695, BPM97895, and EG 187, Delta Dor, BETA Aur, EPS Lyr

The Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer Calibration Targets

Swift Calibration Targets for the XRT

These targets are taken from "The in-flight spectroscopic performance of the Swift XRT CCD camera", J. Osborne et al., 2005
Object Type Mode Purpose Exposure (ks)
RXJ 0720.4-3125 Pulsar PC Low energy response 19.6
RXJ 1856.5-3754 Neutron Star PC Low energy response 5.4
PKS 0745-19 Cluster of galaxies PC Low energy shelf and effective area 29.7
2E 0102-7217 SNR PC
WT
LrPD 		Effective area and gain 24.3
25.4
6.0
Cas A SNR PC
WT 		Effective area and gain 5.8
45.7
3C 273 Quasar WT Effective area and cross-calibration 10.0
Crab SNR WT
LrPD 		Effective area and gain 5.8
25.0
PSR 0540-69 Pulsar PC Effective area 33.9

Suzaku Calibration Targets

Suzaku calibration targets are listed in Table B.1.1 of the Suzaku Technical Description, which is reproduced here: B.1.1 Calibration

Target RA Dec Stat Exp. #obs Remarks
E0102-72 01 04 02.4 -72 01 60.0 Obs 75 2 XIS window open
E0102-72 01 04 02.4 -72 01 60.0   20 1 XIS
N132D 05 25 03.3 -69 38 27.2 Obs 105 6 HXD HV ON
Crab 05 34 32.0 +22 00 52.2 Obs 170 31  
Eta Carina 10 45 03.6 -59 41 04.3   20 1 XIS
Lockman Hole 10 52 00.0 +57 18 00.0   100 1 HXD
North Ecliptic Pole 18 11 12.0 +66 00 0.0 Obs 70 1  
Vega 18 36 56.3 +38 47 01.3 Obs 10 1 Optical light leak check
PKS2155-304 21 58 52.1 -30 13 32.1   60 1 XIS; coordinated obs.
            with XMM-Newton
Cas A 23 23 24.0 +58 48 54.0   10 1 XIS

Documents

Attempts at intercomparison of instrumental performance between 2 (or among 3 or more) observatories, or between multiple instruments on a single observatory.

ASCA

Chandra

XMM-Newton

INTEGRAL

Fermi