XMM-Newton Users Handbook

List of Figures

• 1. Sketch of the XMM-Newton payload. The mirror modules, two of which are equipped with Reflection Grating Arrays, are visible at the lower left. At the right end of the assembly, the focal X-ray instruments are shown: The EPIC MOS cameras with their radiators (black/green “horns”), the radiator of the EPIC pn camera (violet) and those of the (light blue) RGS detectors (in pink). The OM telescope is obscured by the lower mirror module. Figure courtesy of Dornier Satellitensysteme GmbH.
• 2. The light path in XMM-Newton's open X-ray telescope with the pn camera in focus (not to scale).
• 3. The light path in the two XMM-Newton telescopes with grating assemblies (not to scale). Note that the actual fraction of the non-intercepted light that passes to the primary MOS focus is 44%, while 40% of the incident light is intercepted by grating plates of the RGA.
• 4. On axis point spread function (PSF) of the MOS1, MOS2 and pn X-ray telescopes (left to right) registered on the same source with each MOS camera in Small Window mode, and the pn camera in Large Window mode. The pixel size is 1.1 arcsec square for the MOS, and 4.1 arcsec square for the pn. The images are 110 arcsec wide. A square root scale has been used to visualise the wings of the PSF. The core of the PSF is piled-up for this source, with a different factor for the MOS and the pn. The star-like pattern is created by the spider which supports the 58 co-axial Wolter I mirrors of the telescope. The shape of the PSF core is slightly different for all cameras, with MOS2 having a somewhat more pronounced shape.
• 5. The MOS1 fractional encircled energy as a function of angular radius (on-axis) at different energies. The curves were calculated integrating the PSF that is currently implemented in the CCF.
• 6. The MOS2 fractional encircled energy as a function of angular radius (on-axis) at different energies. The curves were calculated integrating the PSF that is currently implemented in the CCF.
• 7. The pn fractional encircled energy as a function of angular radius (on-axis) at different energies. The curves were calculated integrating the PSF that is currently implemented in the CCF.
• 8. The dependence of the X-ray PSF's shape on the position in the field of view. This image was made from an observation towards the Orion molecular cloud. EPIC pn, MOS1 and MOS2 exposures have been merged together and exposure corrected. The data has been slightly smoothed with a Gaussian of 10" FWHM. The intensity scale is square root.
• 9. The W90 radius of a point source observed with the MOS1 camera as a function of off-axis angle at three energies. The curves are based on early ray-trace simulations and should not be used for quantitative analysis; see text on how to optain W90 radii in-line with the current calibration.
• 10. The W90 radius of a point source observed with the pn camera as a function of off-axis angle at three energies. The curves are based on early ray-trace simulations and should not be used for quantitative analysis; see text on how to optain W90 radii in-line with the current calibration.
• 11. The net effective area of all XMM-Newton X-ray telescopes, EPIC and RGS (linear scale).
• 12. The net effective area of all XMM-Newton X-ray telescopes, EPIC and RGS (logarithmic scale).
• 13. Vignetting function as a function of off-axis angle (0$'$-15$'$, based on simulations), at a few selected energies, of the X-ray telescope in front of the pn camera
• 14. Vignetting function as a function of azimuth angle of the X-ray telescope in front of the MOS1 camera. The curves are given for an off-axis angle of 10 arcmin. Due to the presence of reflection grating assemblies in the exit beams of the X-ray telescopes, the vignetting functions measured in the MOS cameras are modulated azimuthally.
• 15. EPIC pn image of GRS1758-258 (a black hole candidate near the Galactic centre) observed in the large window readout mode demonstrating the effect of straylight: in the upper part of the image, sharp arcs appear that are caused by single mirror reflections of photons possibly from GX 5-1 which is $\sim 40$ arcmin offaxis to the north and outside the FOV.
• 16. A rough sketch of the field of view of the two types of EPIC camera; MOS (left) and pn (right). The shaded circle depicts a $30'$ diameter area. For the alignment of the different cameras with respect to each other in the XMM-Newton focal plane refer to the text.
• 17. The field of view of the EPIC MOS cameras for an observation with a position angle of $\sim$ 80$^{\circ }$: MOS1 (here) and MOS2 (next figure). The two MOS cameras view the same field as displayed in sky coordinates with North to the top and East to the left. In each case the camera detector coordinate frames are noted.
• 18. The field of view of the EPIC MOS cameras (cntd. from previous figure): MOS2.
• 19. The field of view of the EPIC pn camera for an observation with a position angle of $\sim$ 80$^{\circ }$. The pn camera views the same field as displayed in Figs. 17 and 18 in sky coordinates with North to the top and East to the left. Again the camera detector coordinate frame is noted. The nominal boresight is marked with a small box. Note that the approximate distance between the boresight and the nearby chip gaps is $\sim$40 arcsec, which can be of importance when observing extended sources. Position 'X' shows the preferred location to centre on an object in the pn small window mode, however, the user is advised that this requires a knowledge of the position angle of the observation, and will also place the target outside the EPIC MOS small window.
• 20. The layout of the MOS cameras is presented in this figure for MOS1 (above) and MOS2 (bottom). The images (in detector coordinates [DETX,DETY]) are extracted from an exposure taken with the calibration (CAL_CLOSED) filter in Rev.#80 (Obs.#0124700101). The number of the CCD where each photon has fallen is included in the CCDNR column of the calibrated event list files. The MOS cameras are orthogonally oriented. Hence, the RGS dispersion direction is aligned with the DETY direction in the MOS1 camera, while it is aligned along the DETX direction in the MOS2 camera. Users are warned that scientific observations are performed with MOS1 CCD3 and CCD6 switched off due to a hardware failure, probably due to a micrometeorite impact (see Sect. 3.3).
• 21. The layout of the EPIC MOS cameras as presented in SAS (cntd. from previous figure): MOS2.
• 22. The layout of the EPIC pn camera as presented in SAS. The orientation of the RAWX/RAWY (CCD specific) and of the DETX/DETY axes are shown, to highlight that the RGS dispersion axes are parallel within spacecraft physical coordinates. The readout CAMEX of each CCD is located at RAWY = 0, i.e. at the top (for CCDs 1 - 6) or bottom (for CCDs 7 - 12) of the displayed array. In the upper left corner, the orientation of the celestial North and East axes is displayed for an assumed position angle (PA) of 30$^{\circ }$.
• 23. Operating modes for the pn-CCD camera. Top left: Full Frame and Extended Full Frame mode; top right: Large Window mode; bottom left: Small Window mode, and bottom right: Timing mode. The Burst mode is different from the Timing mode as the source position is not read out, i.e. rows 181-200 will be dark.
• 24. Operating modes for the MOS-CCD cameras. Top left: Full Frame mode; top right: Large Window mode; bottom left: Small Window mode, and bottom right: Timing mode. In Timing mode, the X axis of the central CCD is the projected image of the source, and has thus true spatial information; the Y axis does not carry any spatial information but is a measure of time, with roll-over of 1024 time-units in the figure shown.
• 25. Temporal evolution of the EPIC MOS energy resolution (FWHM) as a function of energy. The solid curve is a best fit $E^{0.5}$ function to ground calibration data between 0.1 and 12 keV; all events with pattern 0-12 were included in the analysis. Below around 0.6 keV (shown by the dotted region) surface charge loss effects distort the main photo peak significantly from a Gaussian and hence the effective energy resolution. The data points represent MOS 1 in-flight measurements of the FWHM of the Al $K_\alpha$ (1.478 keV) and Mn $K_\alpha$ (5.893 keV) lines in five different epochs. It should be noted the rapid degradation of the resolution between the first and the second epoch, and the recovery and subsequent stability after the cooling of the MOS camera (performed between November and December 2002, i.e. between Rev.#530 and Rev.#560. In the main panel measurement error bars are smaller than the symbol size. In the insets a zoom of the spectral ranges around the nominal line positions is shown. Typical standard deviations in each epoch range between 3 and 7 eV, and 8 and 18 eV for the Al and Mn line, respectively.
• 26. Left panel: MOS 1 energy resolution as a function of energy for singles (blue) and singles+doubles (black) events. Right panel: pn energy resolution as a function of energy for: a) single events at the boresight (position "Y9" in the canned response matrices; black); b) single+double events at the boresight position (red); c) single events close to the readout node (position "Y0", blue); d) single+double events close to the readout node (green). Line widths are based on monochromatic line spectra, simulated with the SASv11.0 canned response matrices.
• 27. Quantum efficiency of the EPIC MOS1 (solid line) and MOS2 (dashed line) CCD1 chip as a function of photon energy.
• 28. Quantum efficiency of the EPIC pn CCD chips as a function of photon energy (Strüder et al., 2001, A&A, 365, L18, Fig. 5).
• 29. The EPIC MOS effective area for each of the optical blocking filters.
• 30. The EPIC pn effective area for each of the optical blocking filters.
• 31. Combined effective area of all telescopes assuming that the EPIC cameras operate with the same filters, either thin, medium or thick.
• 32. Image from a MOS2 observation badly affected by soft proton flares.
• 33. Light curve from a MOS1 observation badly affected by soft proton flares. During the first part of the observation the background is constant. The second half, however, is heavily affected by a proton flare.
• 34. Background spectrum for the MOS1 camera during an observation with the filter wheel in the closed position. The prominent features around 1.5 and 1.7 keV are respectively Al-K and Si-K fluorescence lines. The rise of the spectrum below 0.5 keV is due to the detector noise.
• 35. Background spectrum for the pn camera during an observation with the filter wheel in the CLOSED position (top: single events, bottom: double events) in the energy range 0.2-18 keV. The prominent features around 1.5 keV are Al-K$\alpha$, at 5.5 keV Cr-K$\alpha$, at 8 keV Ni-K$\alpha$, Cu-K$\alpha$, Zn-K$\alpha$ and at 17.5 keV (only in doubles) Mo-K$\alpha$ fluorescence lines. The rise of the spectrum below 0.3 keV is due to the detector noise. The relative line strengths depend on the (variable) incident particle spectrum.
• 36. Background images for the pn camera with spatially inhomogeneous fluorescent lines: smoothed image in the Ti+V+Cr-K$\alpha$ lines (top left), full resolution image in Copper (7.8 - 8.2 keV) (top right), Nickel (7.3 - 7.6 keV) (bottom left) and Molybdenum (17.1 - 17.7 keV) (bottom right). The absolute normalisation of the images can be inferred from the spectra in Fig. 35. The inhomogeneity is caused by the electronics board mounted below the CCDs; in case of the energy range 4.4 - 5.7 keV probably due to a supporting screw - however at a very low level.
• 37. EPIC sensitivity (5$\sigma$ minimum detectable flux in erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ in respective bands) as a function of exposure time (from Watson et al., 2001). Sensitivity is computed for an assumed $\alpha = 1.7$ powerlaw spectrum with a column density $N_H = 3\times 10^{20}$ cm$^{-2}$. Solid curves are for the nominal background rates. Dashed curves are for background levels enhanced by a factor 3. The EPIC MOS curves correspond to the combination of the two cameras.
• 38. In-orbit observations performed with EPIC MOS showing the increase of pile-up with increasing photon count rate per frame. The panels are arranged clockwise, with the lowest count rate (and thus pile-up rate) in the upper left and the highest in the lower left. The observed count rates are 2, 5, 12 and 16 counts/frame, respectively.
• 39. The best-fitting power law slope, $\alpha$, for an $\alpha = 1.7$ input spectrum into SciSim, with different input count rates, leading to different levels of pile-up.
• 40. Plot of the pn pattern distribution with energy as produced by the SAS task epatplot (see text for further details).
• 41. Effect of spectral broadening due to OoT events: the upper panel shows a spectrum extracted from a pn CalClosed full frame mode observation (black) together with the spectrum corrected for OoT events (green). In the lower panel the spectrum of the simulated OoT events over the whole FoV is plotted.
• 42. Effect of OoT events on images: The upper left panel contains a 2-10 keV band image of a pn observation of a bright source in full frame mode with the OoT-events visible as a strip running from the source toward the top of the image (in detector coordinates). The upper right panel depicts the modelled (see SAS task epchain) OoT event distribution where in the lower left panel these are subtracted from the original image. The lower right panel is cleaned for the soft 0.2-2 keV band for comparison.
• 43. Illustration on how the EPIC-pn camera in Small Window mode works. For clarity the grid is 4x4 pixels. Left panel is the input sky image. Right panel shows the out-of-time events in the science window region. See text for details.
• 44. Series of EPIC MOS1 model spectra of a Mekal thermal plasma with a temperature of 0.1 keV. From the bottom to the top, the total number of counts in the XMM-Newton passband (0.15-12 keV) increases from 500 to 20,000.
• 45. Series of EPIC MOS1 model spectra of a Mekal thermal plasma with a temperature of 0.5 keV. From the bottom to the top, the total number of counts in the XMM-Newton passband (0.15-12 keV) increases from 500 to 20,000.
• 46. Series of EPIC MOS1 model spectra of a Mekal thermal plasma with a temperature of 2.0 keV. From the bottom to the top, the total number of counts in the XMM-Newton passband (0.15-12 keV) increases from 500 to 20,000.
• 47. Series of EPIC pn model spectra of a Mekal thermal plasma with a temperature of 2.0 keV. From the bottom to the top, the total number of counts in the XMM-Newton passband (0.15-12 keV) increases from 500 to 20,000.
• 48. Series of EPIC MOS1 model spectra of a Mekal thermal plasma with a temperature of 10.0 keV. From the bottom to the top, the total number of counts in the XMM-Newton passband (0.15-12 keV) increases from 500 to 20,000.
• 49. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for pn camera for various power law spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (thin filter).
• 50. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for pn camera for various power law spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (medium filter).
• 51. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for pn camera for various power law spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (thick filter).
• 52. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for MOS1 camera for various power law spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (thin filter).
• 53. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for MOS1 camera for various power law spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (medium filter).
• 54. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for MOS1 camera for various power law spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (thick filter).
• 55. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for MOS2 camera for various power law spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (thin filter).
• 56. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for MOS2 camera for various power law spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (medium filter).
• 57. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for MOS2 camera for various power law spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (thick filter).
• 58. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for pn camera for various mekal spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (thin filter).
• 59. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for pn camera for various mekal spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (medium filter).
• 60. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for pn camera for various mekal spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (thick filter).
• 61. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for MOS1 camera for various mekal spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (thin filter).
• 62. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for MOS1 camera for various mekal spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (medium filter).
• 63. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for MOS1 camera for various mekal spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (thick filter).
• 64. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for MOS2 camera for various mekal spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (thin filter).
• 65. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for MOS2 camera for various mekal spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (medium filter).
• 66. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for MOS2 camera for various mekal spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (thick filter).
• 67. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for pn camera for various black body spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (thin filter).
• 68. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for pn camera for various black body spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (medium filter).
• 69. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for pn camera for various black body spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (thick filter).
• 70. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for MOS1 camera for various black body spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (thin filter).
• 71. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for MOS1 camera for various black body spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (medium filter).
• 72. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for MOS1 camera for various black body spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (thick filter).
• 73. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for MOS2 camera for various black body spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (thin filter).
• 74. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for MOS2 camera for various black body spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (medium filter).
• 75. EPIC flux to count rate conversion factors (in units of 10$^{11}$ counts erg$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$) for MOS2 camera for various black body spectra and for different values of the absorbing column density, $N_H$ (thick filter).
• 76. Schematic drawing of a grating, including some of the key dispersion angles.
• 77. Sketch of an RFC chip array with 9 MOS CCDs. The half of each CCD at large camera y coordinates is exposed to the sky, the other half is used as a storage area. The dispersion direction is along the Z axis, so that higher energies (shorter wavelengths) are dispersed to higher values in Z. Using the spacecraft axis, the BETA value (dispersion direction) is antiparallel to Z, and the cross-dispersion is parallel to Y.
• 78. Example of RGS data for a calibration observation of Capella. The top panel shows the image of the dispersed light in the detector. The cross dispersion is along the vertical axis. The bottom panel shows the order selection plane, with the energy, PI, on the ordinate. This also illustrates the mechanism used for separation of first, second and higher grating orders. Standard data selections are indicated by the white curves. In the bottom panel, the low and high level thresholds are visible. In the top panel, the effect of fixed pattern noise at long wavelengths is seen.
• 79. The three main components of the LSF: the projected mirror response (green), broadened after folding with the grating response (red), and after applying the detector energy selections (blue). All components are normalised to their maximum.
• 80. Measured (black) and simulated (red) RGS2 Line Spread Function for the O VIII Ly$\alpha$ line in HR 1099. The assumed background is shown in green.
• 81. A close-up view of the O VIII Ly$\alpha$ line in HR 1099 along the cross-dispersion direction.
• 82. The resolving power (HEW and FWHM) of RGS1 (left) and RGS2 (right) in the -1 and -2 grating orders. HEW indicates the detectability of a weak feature against a strong continuum and FWHM whether two closely spaced spectral lines can be resolved.
• 83. Comparison of measured and laboratory wavelengths for a number of sources and observations. Observed wavelengths have been corrected for solar angle dependence and for heliocentric velocity.
• 84. The effective area of both RGS units combined as a function of energy and wavelength (top and bottom horizontal scales, respectively). See text for detailed explanations.
• 85. The effective areas of both RGS units separately as a function of energy and wavelength (top and bottom horizontal scales, respectively). See text for detailed explanations.
• 86. The RGS1 effective area as a function of cross dispersion off-axis angle.
• 87. The average quiet background spectra from first (top) and second (bottom) order. RGS1 is shown in black and RGS2 in red. An enhancement of the count rate below 7 Å in each RGS is due to a change in the width of the pulse height filter at that wavelength. There is a bump around 32 Å in the RGS1 spectrum. The origin has not been fully understood but the most likely explanation is a somewhat higher dark current for CCD2 in this RGS. The lower background in the first order spectrum of RGS2 in this range seems to be related to the use of “single node readout” mode in this RGS.
• 88. Scheme of the position of the RGS detector defects in wavelength space.
• 89. RGS avoidance angles for sources brighter than 4 and between 4 and 5 optical magnitudes (left and right panel, respectively). -Z is the dispersion direction of RGS, Y is the cross-dispersion direction.
• 90. Coronal spectrum of the binary star Capella adapted from Audard et al. 2001, A&A 365, L329. The RGS1 first order spectrum is shown with some line identifications. The total exposure time is 53 ks.
• 91. RGS spectra of the highly variable low-mass X-ray binary EXO 0748-67. The three panels show the spectra for three different activity states: low emission, active variation and burst. The spectra are binned to 0.035 Å per bin. The cumulative exposure time for each spectrum is indicated (Cottam et al. 2001, A&A 365, L277).
• 92. Detail of the EXO 0748-67 RGS spectrum. The O VII He-like lines are shown overlaid with the instrument line spread function, broadened to account for a 1390 km s$^{-1}$ velocity field. The contributions from the resonance line (r), intercombination lines (i), and forbidden line (f) are shown with thin lines. The thick line shows the combined fit (Cottam et al. 2001, A&A 365, L277).
• 93. The first order RGS spectrum of the SMC supernova remnant 1E 0102.2-7219. The effective exposure time is 29.7 ks for each RGS after selection of low background periods in a 37.9 ks exposure. RGS1 is plotted in black, RGS2 in red. The data are shown in both linear and logarithmic scales. This figure and the next show that almost the nominal RGS spectral resolution can be achieved even for moderately extended ($\approx$ 2$^\prime$) objects (Rasmussen et al., 2001, A&A 365, L231).
• 94. Detail of the 8-20 Å region of the spectrum shown in the previous figure. First (black) and second (red) order are plotted separately. The data from the two spectrometers have been averaged for each order extraction. The higher spectral resolution and resilience to source extent is clearly seen in second order, where some line complexes blended in first order are resolved (Rasmussen et al., 2001, A&A 365, L231).
• 95. Detail of the Oxygen line profile in the 1E 0102.2-7219 spectrum. The plot compares the point source line spread function for RGS1, the approximate monochromatic line profile based on the target's angular distribution and a heuristic wavelength broadening function that is applied in addition to the angular distribution (Rasmussen et al., 2001, A&A 365, L231).
• 96. RGS spectrum of the bright starburst nucleus of the nearby edge-on galaxy NGC 253, binned to 0.07 Å per bin. The effective exposure time is $\approx$ 53.4 ks for each spectrograph, after selection of low background periods. The extraction region is 1$^\prime$ along the minor disk axis. (Pietsch et al. 2001, A&A 365, L174).
• 97. RGS spectra of two bright, nearby, Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxies. MCG-6-30-15 (top) was observed for a total of 120 ks while the exposure time for Mrk 766 (bottom) was 55 ks. (Branduardi-Raymont et al. 2001, A&A 365, L140).
• 98. The RGS spectrum of the rich cluster of galaxies Sérsic 159-03 (Abell S 1101). The effective exposure time is 36 ks. The plot also shows in red a fit with a two component cooling flow model. Note the redshifted O VIII Ly $\alpha$ line at 20.0 Å and the Fe XXIV, Fe XXIII and Ne X lines between 11.2 and 12.8 Å (Kaastra et al. 2001, A&A 365, L99).
• 99. First order RGS spectra of the dipping, transient low-mass X-ray binary MXB 1658-298. The upper curve is the persistent emission spectrum and the lower curve that of the dipping intervals. Narrow absorption lines of O VII and Ne X are visible in the persistent spectrum revealing the presence of a warm absorber (Sidoli et al. 2001, A&A 379, 540).
• 100. The light path in XMM-Newton's optical/UV telescope, OM.
• 101. Sketch of the OM micro-channel plate intensified CCD (MIC) detector.
• 102. Throughput curves for the OM filters, folded with the detector sensitivity.
• 103. The OM grisms Inverse Sensitivity Functions
• 104. Flux calibrated spectrum of the white dwarf HZ 2, obtained with the OM ultraviolet (in blue) and visible (in green) grisms.
• 105. Optics+detector OM PSF in different filters
• 106. OM count rates vs. filter selection for stars of different spectral type with $m_v = 20$ mag.
• 107. Theoretical (red line) and empirical (blue line) coincidence loss correction curves superposed to flight data
• 108. Out-of-focus ghost image (“smoke ring”) of a bright field star, during a 3C273 observation. Clearly visible is the strong fixed pattern noise around the bright source
• 109. Straylight ellipses caused by reflection of a star outside the field of view, taken from the PKS 0312 offset 6 field (V filter in use). The average background rate is 15 counts pixel$^{-1}$ per exposure; in the bright straylight loop is 30 counts pixel$^{-1}$. The background is also enhanced in the central region due to reflection of the diffuse sky light from outside the field. In the centre it rises to $\simeq$3 times the average background rate.
• 110. Image obtained with the V filter showing the depletion patch caused by Jupiter in July 2017. The RGS and EPIC-pn boresights are marked in red.
• 111. Positional error of sources in a field of view, where the distortion map has been applied. The histogram was made using sources from the 3C273 field corrected for distortion
• 112. Setup of OM imaging mode default mode observations consisting of a sequence of 5 exposures. The science windows are indicated by solid lines, the detector windows by dashed lines. A 16 in-memory pixel margin around the science window is allocated to accommodate spacecraft drifts.
• 113. Example of a field imaged with the default Image Mode configuration.
• 114. When the boundaries of OM science windows are defined in detector pixel coordinates, the relative location of the windows with respect to each other does not change. However, different areas on the sky are imaged under different position angles.
• 115. Defining the locations of OM science windows in sky coordinates one makes sure that (approximately) the same area of the sky is imaged under different position angles. However, the OM science windows can change their relative locations. Windows 3 and 5 (which used to be in the upper left corner of window 3, see previous figure) are now partially overlapping, which is not allowed and window 4 is now partly outside the OM FOV (which is also not allowed).
• 116. The effective area of both RGS units combined, compared with Chandra's ACIS-S instrument with various transmission gratings. Note that since early after the beginning of the mission, CCD7 in RGS1 and CCD4 in RGS2 are inoperative, thus the effective area in each of the mentioned CCD energy range is reduced by a factor of 2 (see Table 9).
• 117. Top: Comparison of a modelled 30 ks observation of a cluster with a 6 keV thermal plasma spectrum with Chandra ACIS-I (purple line) and XMM-Newton EPIC (pn: black, MOS1: red, MOS2: green). Normalised counts are counts per spectral bin. Bottom: Comparison of the spectral response, for several line triplets at different energies, of XMM-Newton EPIC and RGS and Chandra ACIS instruments. Colour codes are: pn: black; MOS1: red; MOS2: green; RGS1/RGS2: dark/light blue; ACIS LEG/MEG/HEG: purple/green/orange.
• 118. Comparison of Chandra ACIS-I vs. XMM-Newton EPIC (pn and MOS) pile-up for different total frame count rates. The frame times are 3.3, 2.8 and 0.07 seconds for ACIS-I, MOS and pn, respectively.
• 119. Comparison of Chandra ACIS-I vs. XMM-Newton EPIC (pn and MOS) pile-up for different incident source fluxes, after conversion of counts per frame to flux units, adopting an $\alpha = -1.7$ power law spectrum with an absorbing hydrogen column density of $3\times 10^{20}$ cm$^{-2}$.
• 120. Sketch of the highly elliptical XMM-Newton orbit. Original figure provided by Dornier Satellitensysteme GmbH.
• 121. Approximate sky visibility, as a fraction of the total time available for science
• 122. Maximum target visibility within a single orbit of XMM-Newton during the current AO.
• 123. Evolution of maximum target visibility within a single orbit for future AOs
• 124. Percentage of observations when the labelled MOS1 (top) and MOS2 (bottom) CCD count rate within the energy range 200-1000 eV is larger by a factor of 4 than the mean of the count rate in the other CCDs (noisy CCD excluded) as a function of the revolution number. In each plot the curves of a "noisy" and of a "clean" CCD are shown.
• 125. Simulated EPIC-pn exposure maps for a 5$\times$3 mosaic observation with pointing offsets of 1arcmin (top-left), 15arcmin (top-right) and 30arcmin (bottom). The colour bar at the top gives the effective exposure relative to the duration of individual pointings.