XMM-NEWTON PROPOSAL & PLANNING TOOLS
Additional funding made available to AO-1 GOs
30 Mar 2000: In response to the unexpectedly large number of US participants in the AO-1 Guest Observer program, the NASA OSS has decided to allocate further funds to the XMM GO program. Current GOs interested in submitting revised budget proposals can find guidelines and instructions within the NASA Announcement. In order to reduce the possibility for confusion, GOs submitting a revised budget should follow the instructions for the original submissions and resubmit the ENTIRE proposal. Your new proposal must include ALL your requested funding, not just the extra funds you are applying for.
PLEASE NOTE THAT SUBMITTING A NEW BUDGET IS NOT MANDATORY. ONLY
THOSE GOs WISHING TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE NEWLY AVAILABLE FUNDS NEED SUBMIT
A NEW APPLICATION.
NASA AO-1 Budgets (Stage 2 Proposals)
Financial support from NASA for the analysis of XMM-Newton data is limited to successful PIs and Co-Is whose primary affiliation is with a US institution. XMM-Newton Guest Observer Mission DescriptionGeneral Budget Proposal Information
XMM-Newton RPS Help Page RPS
Help Desks
The XMM-Newton Helpdesk at the SOC provides a web-based tool to send technical queries to mission specialists and programmers, and also search the Helpdesk archive. Mail the XMM-Newton US GOF directly at xmmhelp@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov for all other XMM-Newton questions.AO Information
ESA AO-1 Letter from Prof. R. M. Bonnet - PDF (0.9 Mbyte) and gzipped POSTSCRIPT (0.6 Mbyte, 4.9 Mbyte when uncompressed) versions are available through GSFC (copies of the VILSPA SOC files).
NASA AO-1 "Dear Colleague" Letter from Dr. Alan Bunner - ASCII.VILSPA XMM-Newton SOC AO-1 Policies and Procedures - PDF (0.2 Mbyte) and gzipped POSTSCRIPT (0.1 Mbyte, 0.4 Mbyte when uncompressed) versions are available through GSFC (copies of the VILSPA SOC files).
XMM-Newton Users' Handbook (GSFC or VILSPA links) - Font of all knowledge relating to XMM-Newton. Contains the Calibration, Verification, and Guaranteed Time target lists (direct links to the XMM-Newton Users' Handbook target list pages at GSFC).AO Proposal Submission
XMM-Newton Remote Proposal Submission System, XRPS (XRPS online manual at GSFC or VILSPA) - Proposals must be electronically submitted ( XRPS system, currently disabled, SOC link) directly to the XMM-Newton SOC through this facility.AO Proposal and Planning Tools
SciSim - SciSim is the XMM-Newton project observation modeling tool. It incorporates all instrument calibration information to the greatest extent possible. This includes a detailed ray tracing with the mirror reflectivities and geometric and obscuration effects. It also includes details of the detectors and their responses and artifacts. SciSim should be used for the most accurate analysis of XMM-Newton data, particularly for complex sources and confused regions. (SOC link)PIMMS and WebPIMMS - The WebPIMMS package, which is already familiar to many X-ray astronomers has been updated to include the X-ray instruments of XMM-Newton observatory. It provides a convenient method for calculating the expected coarse count rates and pile-up effects for sources with a variety of spectra. WebPIMMS calculates the count rates directly from input spectral parameters as well as by converting from source count rates observed by other X-ray observatories (with spectral form and absorption also as inputs).
Xspec - Xspec is a spectral analysis package for X-ray astronomy. Besides fitting observed and model spectra (e.g., SciSim or QuickSim output), it can also be used to simulate spectra.QuickSim - QuickSim was written to provide a faster (than SciSim) but not so complete modeling of XMM-Newton EPIC observations. It should be considered a PIMMS for imaging. QuickSim provides reasonably accurate modeling of the energy and angular responses (PSFs) of the EPIC instruments to a variety of spectral models and angular distributions. Temporal sinusoidal variations can be incorporated in simulations as well. QuickSim also models the intrinsic detector background and the cosmic diffuse background (although at higher energies this is problematic as much of the background will be resolved out). The output of QuickSim can be used by Xselect, Ximage, and various other data analysis packages.
ProcSim - ProcSim is a utility program for SciSim and is provided as part of the QuickSim package. It combines the SciSim produced ODF files into a single photon event FITS file with a unified coordinate system. The output of ProcSim can be used by Xselect, Ximage, and various other data analysis packages.WebSpec - Spectral simulations of XMM-Newton EPIC (and other X-ray observatory instruments) observations. WebSpec is based on the Xspec package.
Browse the XMM-Newton target and observation database.
XMM-Newton Target Visibility Checker - Checks when target directions are available for XMM-Newton pointings (SOC link).Coco - Coordinate conversion.
W3nH - Neutral Hydrogen column densities.
If you have any questions concerning XMM-Newton send email to xmmhelp@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov
