XMM-Newton-NEWS


XMM-Newton-NEWS  #52,    27-Oct-2005

XMM-Newton Science Operations Centre at
ESA's European Space Astronomy Centre,
P.O. Box - Apdo. 50727, 28080 Madrid, Spain

SOC Home Page: https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/
Helpdesk web interface: https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/xmm-newton-helpdesk
Helpdesk email address: xmmhelp@sciops.esa.int
News Mailing List: https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/newsletter

Contents:


XMM-Newton AO-5

The XMM-Newton fifth Announcement of Opportunity (AO-5) closed on the 14th of October 2005.

In total, 632 valid proposals were submitted requesting, in total, 106737 ksec of science time. Compared to the previous announcement (AO-4) the total science time requested has increased by about 5%.

The fifth Announcement of Opportunity covers a period of one year with 14500 ksec of observing time available for distribution. The over-subscription factor is 7.4.

In total 33 proposals for "Large Programs" were submitted. Triggered observations are requested in 24 proposals. For the joint XMM-Newton Chandra program the SOC received 17 proposals and for the joint XMM-Newton ESO (VLT and VLTI) program 7 proposals are competing.

SOC received proposals from 452 different principal investigators from 27 countries, mostly ESA member states, the United States and Japan. The number of countries involved increases to 36 if co-investigators are taken into account as well. Considering principal investigators and co-investigators, about 1600 individual scientists were involved in the response to the fifth Announcement of Opportunity.

Research Fellowship at the XMM-Newton Science Operations Centre

The European Space Agency, ESA, offers astronomers and space scientists the possibility to hold ESA-funded Post-doctoral Research Fellowships. Details of the program can be found at:
   http://www.rssd.esa.int/?project=TOP&page=fellowships

Within this program ESA Internal Research Fellowships are available at the XMM-Newton Science Operations Centre (in the European Space Astronomy Centre, located at Villafranca near Madrid, Spain), see:
   http://xmm.esac.esa.int/

Interviews are planned for end 2005. It is expected that the successful candidate will conduct research based on XMM-Newton data.

Applicants for this post should have a PhD in astrophysics or an equivalent qualification in a relevant discipline. Experience in medium to high resolution X-ray spectroscopy and the study of hot stars, nearby galaxies, or Active Galactic Nuclei is desirable.

Please contact: N. Schartel (Norbert.Schartel@sciops.esa.int)


Yours sincerely,
XMM-Newton SOC