GSFC XMM-Newton GOF Status Report #032: [XMM-NEWS] XMM-NEWTON NEWS #5

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

Note to U.S. XMM-Newton Users, The SAS software and PV data are also
mirrored at the U.S. XMM-Newton archive at:

ftp://legacy.gsfc.nasa.gov/xmm/software/sas/5.1.0/
ftp://legacy.gsfc.nasa.gov/xmm/data/pv/

Regards,
  U.S. XMM-Newton GOF


----- Forwarded message from xmm-news-admin@xvsoc01.vilspa.esa.es -----

Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2001 08:39:16 +0000

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
_/                                                                          _/
_/                 XMM-NEWTON NEWS #5   ---    27-Jun-2001                  _/
_/                                                                          _/
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

                ESA, XMM-Newton Science Operations Centre at                  
            Villafranca del Castillo, Satellite Tracking Station
                P.O. Box - Apdo. 50727, 28080 Madrid, Spain        
	               
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

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 
       
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Contents:  
           - SAS 5.1 RELEASED

           - NEW OBSERVATION LOG AVAILABLE

           - PV DATA RELEASED
	   
	  
Dear Colleagues,


SAS 5.1 RELEASED
================

Version 5.1 of the XMM-Newton Science Analysis System was released
24 June 2001. For download instructions see:

http://xmm.vilspa.esa.es/sas.

Version 5.1 of the SAS is available in binary form for the following
platforms:

  Solaris 2.6 and 2.7
  Tru64 Unix (formerly known as Digital Unix)
  RedHat 6.2 and 7.0
  SuSE 7.0

Besides the numerous improvements to the robustness of the code, this
version of the SAS contains improved algorithms for energy, gain, and
cti correction for the X-ray instruments and OM. The background
rejection algorithms were also improved.

The response generation tasks and the corresponding calibration
algorithms have been significantly improved, and from this version the
use of ad hoc response matrices is no longer required.

For more details consult http://xmm.vilspa.esa.es/sas.

With the release of SAS v5.1, there are major improvements in the 
implementation of calibration knowledge. The normal method by which
updates, in the Current Calibration File (CCF) are announced is via the
distribution of "CCF Release Notes" concurrent with the availability of
a file from the XMM-Newton SOC ftp site. Users are encouraged to 
check details at :

http://xmm.vilspa.esa.es/user/calib_top.html 

for information about the calibration files. Furthermore there is a 
mailing list for the announcements of calibration updates; the link 
to subscribe is:

http://xmm.vilspa.esa.es/mailman/listinfo/ccf

However at this milestone, we have tried to summarise the status of the 
instruments' calibration status with a more descriptive set of documents
- one per instrument. These documents provide an estimate of the 
accuracy of calibrations that can be expected with use of the SAS v5.1, 
and the associated calibration files released at or around the same 
time (i.e. around end-June 2001). In addition the open points still 
in progress are listed.

These documents are likewise obtained at the calibration 
"top-level" page 

http://xmm.vilspa.esa.es/user/calib_top.html 

as Calibration Technical Notes, listed under each instrument section.


NEW OBSERVATION LOG AVAILABLE
=============================

The SOC has released a (set of) HTML-table(s) which describe, to a 
fair level of accuracy, for observations in the past:

- What has actually been observed and what was the exposure time 
  achieved.

For observations in the future :

- What is the detailed, near-term (~1 month), projected observation 
  planning.

The WWW Address is:

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

The long-term planning (~ 3 months) skeleton remains available at:

http://xmm.vilspa.esa.es/news/advance_plan.html


PV DATA RELEASED
================

The performance verification observations for which all required data 
files have recently become available are NOW available at:

http://xmm.vilspa.esa.es/user/mplan/XMM-Newton/public_list.html



With best regards,

The XMM-Newton SOC.


_______________________________________________
XMM-NEWS mailing list
XMM-NEWS@xmm.vilspa.esa.es
http://xmm.vilspa.esa.es/mailman/listinfo/xmm-news

----- End forwarded message -----