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GSFC XMM-Newton GOF Status Report #050: XMM-NEWTON NEWS #19



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_/                 XMM-NEWTON NEWS #19   ---    21-Dec-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/external/xmm_user_support/xmm_news/index.shtml

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Contents:  
            - XMM-Newton's birthday and mission extension
            - Target of Opportunity (ToO): GRB011211
	    - Public data
	    - Tell us about your XMM-Newton publications and PR activities
	    - Helpdesk closed over Christmas
	    - Plans for 2002
	    
        
Dear Colleagues,

XMM-Newton's birthday and mission extension 
===========================================

On December 10th at 14:32 GMT it was exactly two years ago that the 
European Space Agency's XMM-Newton observatory was, flawlessly, placed 
into its orbit.

In the past two years XMM-Newton operations have matured to where we are 
today, an observatory routinely and timely delivering extremely high
quality data, as was demonstrated by the many excellent papers presented 
at the "New Visions of the Universe in the XMM-Newton and Chandra era"
symposium held at ESTEC from 26-30 November, 2001.

Early in December, the extension of the XMM-Newton mission for another 4 
years was approved; providing us with a clear, scientifically highly 
interesting, future. This extension was given under the explicit remark, 
that every attempt should be made to accelerate the completion of the 
Guaranteed Time (GT) programme. It is therefore foreseen to increase 
the scheduling of GT targets during the first half of 2002 and the 
beginning of the AO-2 phase. This approach will improve the current
situation that many outstanding GT observations are effectively blocking 
further observations of scientifically important targets. 

We would like to take this opportunity and thank all of those who have 
continuously supported this wonderful mission.


Target of Opportunity (ToO): GRB011211
======================================

Triggered by a BeppoSAX WFC1 Gamma Ray Burst alert, XMM-Newton performed 
a slew towards this X-ray rich GRB011211 in revolution 368, only about 
4 hours after the alert reached the on call SOC scientist.

>From the corresponding GCN GRB Observation Report 1192 (Santos-Lleo et al.):

QLA (Quick-Look-Analysis) analysis of the XMM-Newton observation of 
GRB011211 (G. Gandolfi et al. GCN 1188 and 1189) shows the presence of a 
source in the WFC error box:

S1 (J2000): R.A. =  11h 15m 17.9s   Decl. = -21 56' 57.5"
with an estimated EPIC/pn countrate of 0.02 [counts/sec].

At this stage of reduction the error is expected to be less than 10".
Refined coordinates will be distributed as soon as the final attitude
reconstruction is obtained.    

The ToO observation data files have been made public at

http://xmm.vilspa.esa.es/external/xmm_news/items/grb011211/index.shtml


Public data
===========

SOC is constantly increasing the number of public data sets from the
XMM-Newton Performance Verification and Calibration phase.
An updated list of the currently available 152 data sets is accessible from:

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


Tell us about your XMM-Newton publications and PR activities
============================================================ 

We encourage once again the community to inform the XMM-Newton Helpdesk
(email: xmmhelp@xmm.vilspa.esa.es) about all the papers publishing XMM-Newton
data. This will allow us to link the observations in the XMM-Newton
Science Archive with the related publications.

Please, be reminded that all publications which make use of XMM-Newton data
must include the following acknowledgment:

"This work is based on observations obtained with XMM-Newton, an ESA science
 mission with instruments and contributions directly funded by ESA Member
 States and the USA (NASA)."

In addition, the Project Scientist would appreciate to be informed via email
(fjansen@rssd.esa.int) about all planned press releases and other public
relation activities which are related to XMM-Newton.


Helpdesk closed over Christmas
==============================

Please, be informed that due to public holidays in Spain the helpdesk will 
not be supported from Dec-22 to Jan-02. We will follow up all your questions
again after the break.


Plans for 2002
==============

Amongst the projects that the SOC plans to address in 2002 we like to 
highlight the following items:

- We are currently restructuring the XMM-Newton Web pages with the goal
  to create a layout that makes it easier for external users to find info
  related to specific questions.
- The XMM-Newton Science Archive (XSA) will go online and all public
  data sets (ODF and PPS products) will become accessible through the 
  archive interface.
- A XMM-Newton Data Analysis Workshop at Vilspa is planned possibly
  at the end of April 2002. We will soon start collecting "expressions of 
  interest" from the users community.
  
We will keep you informed about progress on these and other projects via 
XMM-Newton News.   


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Merry Christmas to you and yours, and all our very best wishes for 2002.


Yours sincerely,
XMM-Newton SOC


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