GSFC XMM GOF Status Report #010, Forward of SOC Bulletin and QuickSim update

["Steve Snowden, GSFC XMM GOF" <snowden@riva.gsfc.nasa.gov>]

NASA/GSFC XMM GOF
XMM Status Report #010
24 March 1999

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1) Forward of XMM SOC e-mail bulletin
2) Revised Versions of QuickSim

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1) Forward of XMM SOC e-mail bulletin
                                      
Dear colleagues,

please be reminded of the following important information concerning
the first Announcement of Opportunity for submitting XMM proposals:

1. The deadline for AO-1 proposals is April 17 1999, 00:00 UT, that
   is less than 4 weeks from now!

2. Close to the deadline, network performance might degrade - and
   with it access to our online XMM Remote Proposal Submission
   software. Therefore, please submit your proposals well before 
   the deadline! Only few proposals have been submitted so far;
   you can safely assume that the load on the system during the
   remaining time will increase considerably.

3. Please make sure to define exposures for all six XMM science
   instruments (EPIC pn, EPIC MOS-1, EPIC MOS-2, RGS-1, RGS-2, OM)
   FOR THE ENTIRE DURATION OF THE PROPOSED OBSERVATIONS!

Best regards,
on behalf of the XMM Project Scientist,

Michael Dahlem
XMM User Support

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2) Revised Versions of QuickSim and ProcSim

QuickSim (a tool for simulating EPIC observations) and it's companion 
program SimSource have been updated to correct for minor bugs and 
additional features have been added.  The software can be retrieved from:
ftp://legacy.gsfc.nasa.gov/xmm/software/quicksim
Below is the addition to the README file which documents the changes.
  
24 March 1999
    Update of quicksim.ps documentation
    Update of software - QuickSim V1.0.3a
        - correction of coordinate convention bug, image-based
          simulations were correctly oriented but individual sources
          were mirrored in RA
        - correction of King model angular distribution
        - added limit checking in blackbody spectra creation to
          eliminate a crash situation (numbers were too small)

22 March 1999
    Update of quicksim.ps documentation
    Update of software - SimSource V1.0.2
        - disabling of Timing and Burst modes for the PN
        - added windowing W2 and W3 modes for the MOS
    Update of software - QuickSim V1.0.3
        - disabling of Timing and Burst modes for the PN
        - added windowing W2 and W3 modes for the MOS
        - proper masking of unused regions for the Large and Small PN
          modes
        - proper masking of unused regions for the W2 and W3 MOS modes
        - correction of a bug in the source distribution that caused a
          crash when an ellipse with inner radius 0 was used