GSFC XMM-Newton GOF Status Report #033: XMM-NEWTON NEWS #6

[Michael Arida <arida@milkyway.gsfc.nasa.gov>]

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_/                 XMM-NEWTON NEWS #6   ---    23-Jul-2001                  _/
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                ESA, XMM-Newton Science Operations Centre at                  
            Villafranca del Castillo, Satellite Tracking Station
                P.O. Box - Apdo. 50727, 28080 Madrid, Spain        
                       
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SOC Home Page:           http://xmm.vilspa.esa.es/    
Helpdesk web interface:  http://xmm.vilspa.esa.es/xmmhelp
Helpdesk email address:  xmmhelp@xmm.vilspa.esa.es 
News Mailing List:       http://xmm.vilspa.esa.es/mailman/listinfo/xmm-news 
       
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Contents:  
           - SAS 5.1: Errors found

           - Dates for the next Announcement of Opportunity (AO-2)
           
           - Reminder: PIs, please, check your contact details
           
           - Follow-up: Naming conventions for sources 
             found by individual researchers
          
Dear Colleagues,

SAS 5.1: Errors found
======================

This item contains three important messages relating 
to XMM-Newton data analysis.

- Serious coding error in rgsrmfgen in SAS v5.1
- SAS 5.0 vs. SAS 5.1 RGS pipeline product incompatibility
- Pipeline products for EPIC-pn extended Full Frame mode

1. A serious coding error has been detected in the RGS response 
matrix generator task included in the recently released 
SAS version 5.1. The effect of this error is to return 
effective area values above 1 keV which deviate substantially 
from the correct values. A software fix has been identified; 
however, due to the dependency of this software package on 
other components in the SAS, there cannot be an isolated release 
of a fixed version of this particular package. The XMM-Newton 
Science Operations Centre, together with the RGS team, is 
working on a full new release of the SAS in the near future.
Given the availability of people over the summer holidays, 
this new release is expected early September 2001.

In the mean time the only practical workaround is to ignore 
the data above 1 keV. Rolling back to SAS 5.0 is, for this 
particular RGS data analysis problem, also a possibility.

2. An unrelated, but equally painful error is related to RGS 
specific PPS products (like e.g. the RGS calibrated event list 
produced by the PPS), created in the PPS before June 18, 2001 
(i.e. created with PPS versions earlier than 02000035/20010618.143655 
2001-06-18T14:36:55). Tasks in version 5.1.0 of the SAS cannot 
be used to extract spectra and generate response files for the 
affected event lists. The affected tasks are: rgsspectrum, rgsrmfgen, 
rgsfluxer. The problem is caused by a file format change.
This error will be corrected by the time of the above mentioned 
new SAS release.

3. There is a known problem with the absence of EPIC-pn pipeline 
products in a number of cases. If your pipeline products directory 
on the CD(s) you received contains NO specific products for the 
EPIC-PN camera, but the page linked through the observation id 
(obsid column) in the files referenced at: 

http://xmm.vilspa.esa.es/user/mplan

tells you that for your observation pn data has been taken in 
the extended full frame mode, you can generate the calibrated 
event list (and many other files) by yourself, by using the 
standard analysis procedure as outlined in the SAS users' guide. 
This circumvents the problem causing the pipeline to fail in the 
generation of the EPIC-pn products for this particular extended 
full frame mode.

This approach fixes 1 out of 3 known reasons for the absence of 
EPIC-pn products on your CD(s).

For any further questions, you should address your message to:

xmmhelp@xmm.vilspa.esa.es.


Dates for the next Announcement of Opportunity (AO-2)
=====================================================

The call for proposals for the next round of XMM-Newton Guest Observer
proposals (AO-2) is foreseen to be released on 31 August 2001.
 
The deadline for proposal submission is planned for 11 October 2001. 
Please note the limited time between the release and due dates and plan
accordingly.  

AO-2 observations will probably begin in early summer 2002 and will 
keep XMM-Newton busy for about one year.


Reminder: PIs, please, check your contact details
=================================================

The XMM-Newton observation PIs are kindly reminded to check if their
email and postal addresses as specified in the AO-1 proposals are
still correct. The SOC sometimes has problems to deliver the
emails which inform the PIs about the scheduling of their observations
as well as with the postal delivery of the data CDs.

If PI contact details have changed since the proposal submission,
an email should be sent to xmmpi@xmm.vilspa.esa.es with the
proposal ID in the subject and with the new address. 


Follow-up: Naming conventions for sources found by individual researchers
=========================================================================

The IAU "Clearing House" of Commission 5 Working Group on Designations
has announced on 10-Jun-2001 the acceptance of the submitted acronyms
XMMU and XAU by the IAU Registry (see XMM-Newton News #3 and #4). It has 
been entered into the on-line Reference Dictionary of Nomenclature of 
Celestial Objects.
 
The details of the registered acronym can be found at the URL
http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/Dic?XMMU


With best regards,

The XMM-Newton SOC.


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