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AMS-02
AstroSat
BlackCAT
CALET
Chandra
DAMPE
Einstein Probe
Fermi
GECAM
GRBBeta
HXMT-Insight
IXPE
MAXI
NuSTAR
SRG eRosita /
ART-XC
SVOM
Swift
XMM-Newton
XPoSat
XRISM

AGILE
ANS
ARIEL V
ASCA
BBXRT
BeppoSAX
CGRO
COPERNICUS
COS-B
DXS
EINSTEIN
EUVE
EXOSAT
GINGA
GRANAT
HaloSat
HAKUCHO
HEAO-1
HEAO-3
HETE-2
Hitomi
OSO-7
OSO-8
ROSAT
Rossi XTE
SAS-2
SAS-3
Suzaku
TENMA
UHURU
VELA 5B
WASS
XQC

The Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer

Visualization of RXTE

The Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, RXTE, was launched on December 30, 1995. RXTE was designed to facilitate the study of time variability in the emission of X-ray sources with moderate spectral resolution. Time scales from microseconds to months are covered in a broad spectral range from 2 to 250 keV. It was designed for a required lifetime of two years, but operated for more than 16 years before being decommissioned.

Mission Characteristics

Lifetime
30 Dec 1995–5 Jan 2012
Special Features
Very large collecting area and all-sky monitoring of bright sources

Payload

Proportional Counter Array (PCA)

Energy Range
2–60 keV
Effective Area
6500 cm2 (total)
Field of View
1° collimator (FWHM)
Sensitivity
0.1 mCrab
Energy Resolution
<18% at 6 keV
Time Resolution
1 µs
The PCA consisted of five proportional counters built by the Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics. The PCA counters contained a propane layer, 3 Xenon layers split in two, and a Xenon veto layer.

High Energy X-ray Timing Experiment

Energy Range
12–250 keV
Effective Area
800 cm2 each cluster
1600 cm2 total
Field of View
1° (FWHM)
Sensitivity
∼1 mCrab (≈ 3.6 × 10-3 ct/s for 10 ks exposure)
Energy Resolution
15% at 60 keV
Time Resolution
8 µs
HEXTE consisted of two clusters each containing four phoswich scintillation detectors. Each cluster could “rock” (beam switch) along mutually orthogonal directions to provide background measurements 1.5 or 3.0 degrees away from the source every 16 to 128 s. Automatic gain control was provided by using a 241Am radioactive source mounted in each detector’s field of view.

All-Sky Monitor (ASM)

Energy Range
2–10 keV
Effective Area
90 cm2 total
Field of View
6° × 90° each
Angular Resolution
3′ × 15′
Sensitivity
30 mCrab
The ASM consists of three wide-angle shadow cameras equipped with proportional counters.

Science Highlights

  • Discovery of kilohertz QPOs
  • Discovery of spin periods in low mass X-ray binaries
  • Detection of X-ray afterglows from gamma-ray bursts
  • Extensive observations of the soft state transition of Cyg X-1
  • Observations of the Bursting Pulsar over a broad range of luminosities, providing stringent test of accretion theories

Archive

The HEASARC hosts catalogs, spectra, lightcurves, and raw data

RXTE Guest Observer Facility More about RXTE Publications

All Missions Time Ordered List Energy Ordered List