XMM-Newton Phase II RPS Users Manual

5.2.4.2 Filling in EPIC pn details

In Fig. 14 a screen shot of an EPIC pn exposure form sheet is displayed.

Figure 14: Screen shot of an EPIC pn exposure form sheet for a ''Full Frame'' imaging exposure with a duration of 123034s and an offset with respect to the previous exposure of 0s. The ''THIN FILTER'' optical blocking filter was chosen.

The selectable parameters for the pn camera are again the EPIC filters , exposure time, exposure offset (which should normally be 0) and the EPIC modes .

''Filter Wheel'', Optical blocking filters

The choice of optical blocking filters is the same as for EPIC MOS (see Table 1, in § 5.2.4.1).

''Exposure Time (secs)''

The valid range is between 0 and 124000s.

''Exposure Offset (secs)''

This should be 0 again in order to avoid times during which the instrument is idle. The valid range is between 0 and 1000s.

''Instrument'', pn camera unit

There is only one EPIC pn camera, therefore the instrument unit is not a selectable parameter.

''Instrument Mode'', pn modes of operation

The allowed EPIC modes are summarized in Table 3 and are described in the XMM-Newton Users Handbook in detail.

Table 3: EPIC pn mode names

EPIC pn mode name

Full Frame

Large Window

Small Window

Timing

Burst

Extended Full Frame

Mosaic Setup$^1$

Notes to Table 3:
1) Although the system offers this mode, it is only valid for Mosaic observations and will not be added or removed by the users without SOC agreement.

The XMM-Newton modes ''Timing'' and ''Burst'' are two flavours of the EPIC fast mode, where the ''Burst'' mode has an extremely short duty cycle. Both modes operate on one CCD (the one on which the nominal on-axis boresight falls). These two modes can only be used in combination with the ''Thick'' filter.

''Order (ins. based)''

In this field one can define the order of multiple exposures using the same instrument within an observation.