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XRISM Proposal Tools

The following documentation and applications can be used to support the preparation of XRISM observing proposals:

  • Proposer's Observatory Guide (POG):
    A complete guide for proposer's, addressing the specificities of the mission and its instruments, is available in html and pdf formats. This guide also adresses important cases such as observing bright sources or extended sources with XRISM. It is strongly recommended to proposers to read this guide.


  • Materials from the 2nd XRISM Community Workshop:
    Slides and video recordings from presentations of the 2nd XRISM Community Workshop (Jan 17-19, 2024) are available. Presentations include video tutorials that may help proposers in many respects.


  • Count Rate and Branching Ratio Estimates:
    The standard HEASARC tool WebPIMMS is available for estimating count rates and Resolve branching ratios.


  • Online Spectral Simulations:
    The standard HEASARC tool WebSpec supports XRISM simulations using the same response files that are available for download.


  • HEASoft Simulation Software for XRISM Observations:
    The simulation software is part of the HEASoft suite of tools. The main tasks relevant to XRISM proposers are the following:
    • Xspec -- for spectral simulations, useful for most science cases. Response files to use with Xspec and other software packages for XRISM Cycle 1 can be found on this webpage. Note that these response files are not compatible with the heasim tool (see below).
    • heasim -- simulate an event file, useful for more involved science cases, e.g. spatial-spectral mixing. Files supporting heasim as well as complete and step-by-step guides adapted to XRISM proposals can be downloaded here. Note that the heasim support files should only be used with this tool and not for other purposes.
    • skyback -- simulate sky X-ray background.
    • sxsbranch -- calculate the spectrometer branching ratio.
    • Xselect -- extract spectra from event file.

    To install the software, follow the steps in the general installation directions for the HEASoft distribution.

  • Visibility:
    The standard HEASARC Viewing tool can be used to determine target visibilities for XRISM based solely on Sun avoidance.


  • XRISM Roll Angle:
    The XRISM Roll Angle tool calculates the range of spacecraft roll angles at which a given celestial target can be observed.


  • Date/Time Converter:
    The standard HEASARC xTime tool convert XRISM time to other time systems and formats, and vice versa.


    Any questions regarding the XRISM proposal tools can be submitted to our XRISM helpdesk. You can access our helpdesk by using HEASARC's Feedback form , or click the "HELP" icon to the left.