The main improvements of this release can be summarized as follows:
General
a new task parameter interface has been implemented - this may necessitate updating your current "old" scripts. See under parameter interface below.
graphical user interfaces have been upgraded. In xmmselect it is now possible to fix basic filtering criteria and derive from a reduced event list in memory images, spectra, etc, without running over the whole event list. This makes xmmselect much faster for most purposes. The Dataset Browser offers a refresh button, for updating the content of the directories searched.
EPIC
adequate handling of the instrument optical axis. This improves the vignetting correction significantly, even for on-axis sources.
exposure maps now correctly reflect spatial effect of event flag selection, and out-of-time and dead-time corrections are now applied. EPIC source lists now have correct maximum likelihood values (in all previous version these were >=2 times too large).
MOS specific
blanking of bad-energy columns and correct handling as dead areas
filtering and removal of flickering pixels, decreasing significantly the noise at low energies.
improvement in handling of MOS timing mode CTI.
ebadpixupdate: New SAS tasks that allows manipulations of bad pixels at the level of the calibrated events list
PN specific
epreject: New SAS task which corrects shifts in the energy scale of specific pixels due to high-energy particles hitting the EPIC PN detector during offset map calculation and suppresses detector noise at low energies by statistical flagging events based on the known noise properties of the lowest energy channels. In the case of timing mode data, flagging of soft flare events may be performed.
epatplot: The optional input of a background eventset now allows the determination of background-subtracted pattern fractions. This is useful, e.g., in the case of extended source analysis or close to spectral background features.
badpixfind: The task now permits bad pixel searching on calibrated multi-chip eventsets(e.g. final pipeline product). Previous versions only operated on raw event lists.
RGS
an alternative new method for signal offset subtraction is offered in rgsenergy. Files containing averaged offset signals for each three consecutive revolutions are new constituents of the Observation Data File (ODF). They make possible the subtraction of the offset signal on a pixel-by-pixel basis, which should be more accurate than subtracting a single value per CCD readout node (this continues to be the default method in rgsenergy).
For older ODFs those new constituents can be retrieved from the repository (under ftp://xmm.esac.esa.int/pub/RGS/OFFSET/). A README file located in this directory gives further details.
OM
grism data processing is now enabled.
This new version of SAS contains by the first time utilities to deal with data obtained with the OM grisms. A new metatask, omgchain, can be used to extract and automatically calibrate spectra produced by OM grisms.
These OM data are taken in Image Mode. Hence omgchain uses already existing tasks, such as omprep and ommodmap, to handle housekeeping information and to perform some corrections as the "modulo 8" noise reduction. Also omdetect is used to find the spectra, zero and first orders, producing a source list.
Some new tasks are grism specific. omgprep, is used to correct for geometric distortion of the detector and to rotate the image so as to have the dispersion direction aligned with the image Y axis. omgprep performs the spectral extraction and the wavelength and flux calibration. Finally, the extracted spectra are plotted using omgplot.
A new, interactive task, omgsource, allows the user to select with the cursor the spectrum to be extracted.
photometric calibration.
OM photometry has been completed in this SAS version with a new PSF for the UVW1, UVM2 and UVW2 filters. The form of the PSF is taken into account when measuring the count rates of the detected sources.
OM source positions are corrected for a 0.5 pixel position error in both Fast and Image Mode exposures.
Parameter Interface
a new task parameter handling system, which is capable of understanding complex expressions for allowable values, in addition to setting default values as in former SAS versions. Furthermore, parameters can have child-parameters, depending on its value, and this makes possible the implicit setting of controlling parameters, if a child parameter is activated on the command line (e.g. evselect --xcolumn=RAWX implies withimageset=yes, which does not need anymore to be explicitly specified). This presents large advantages at the time of writing scripts, which can be much more compact than in the past. However, "old" scripts have to be revised to avoid setting implicitly undesired parameters. This will be explained in more detail in a, soon to be available, "SAS watchout" page.
CCF
Please notice that a number of new calibration constituent files (CCF) have been released together with the SAS 6.0.0, which are necessary for running some of the tasks. You can follow the CCF download instructions at http://xmm.esac.esa.int/external/xmm_sw_cal/calib/ccf.shtml
XSA
A number of SAS tasks are now fully integrated in the new release of the XMM-Newton Science Archive (XSA; http://xmm.esac.esa.int/xsa). EPIC, RGS and OM data reduction meta-tasks, EPIC event list filtering and interactive generation of EPIC scientific products (spectra, response matrices, light curves) can be run from the XSA user interface version v2.5 (see http://xmm.esac.esa.int/external/xmm_news/items/xsa_2.5.shtml). Upgrading of these functionalities to the new SAS version (6.0) is ongoing.
4th VILSPA SAS Workshop
There are still a few places available to attend the 4th VILSPA SAS Workshop, which will be held from June 8 to 11, 2004.
The SAS Workshops aim at providing potential XMM-Newton users, having no or little experience of XMM-Newton data analysis, with an introduction to the procedures and techniques to successfully reduce and analyze XMM-Newton data. No specific knowledge of X-ray data analysis is required to attend the workshop. Astronomers with experience in wavelengths other than X-rays are warmly encouraged to apply.
Everybody interested to attend should fill-in and submit the registration form, available at the URL:
The same web page provides detailed information on the workshop program, and on accommodation facilities for workshop participants.
The deadline for registration is April 30, 2004.
Conference Announcement: Exploring the X-ray Universe
A 3 day meeting will be held from 22-24th June 2004 at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Holmbury St Mary, UK. The meeting will encompass various aspects of X-ray observations in the universe - from the Sun to stars to supernova remnants to active galactic nuclei. The meeting is held in honour of Prof. J. Len Culhane's career to date. The details of the scientific programme and the deadlines are on the following website;