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HEASARC Staff Scientist Position - Applications are now being accepted for a Staff Scientist with significant experience and interest in the technical aspects of astrophysics research, to work in the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC) at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, MD. Refer to the AAS Job register for full details.

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The XMM-Newton General Observer Facility

Calibration

Calibration Database

The current calibration files (CCFs) are required to run the Science Analysis System (SAS). They are distributed separately from the SAS, and are currently available only through the calibration area at the official XMM-Newton site of the ESA Science Operations Centre (SOC). The release notes can also be found there.

For help in mirroring calibration files, see:



Calibration status

The status of the EPIC, RGS, and OM calibrations is presented at:

Canned Calibration Files (RMFs and RSPs)

Canned response files for the all instruments are available at the HEASARC and SOC.
  • EPIC:
    Descriptions of the filename nomenclature can be found here. ARFs can be made using the SAS task arfgen.

  • RGS:
    Be aware that the redistribution matrices are suitable for simulations only. They have been generated for a specific observation and cannot be used sensibly for any data analysis. However, they can be used for observation simulations and proposal evaluation. Also take note that these response matrices cannot be used for off-axis, or any other non-typical observation scenario (e.g. extended or confused sources). ARF files are not necessary for RGS.

  • OM:
    Response files are available for each band (V, B, U, UVW1, UVM2, UVW2) and the two grisms (optical and UV). As these are RSPs, they have the ARFs already taken into account (RSP = RMF × ARF).


Background Files

For all instruments, discussions of the backgrounds and products to address them, when available, can be found at the SOC. In the EPIC cameras, backgrounds are also discussed in detail in the ESAS Cookbook and Kuntz & Snowden (2008).

If you have any questions concerning XMM-Newton send email to xmmhelp@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov