XMM-Newton-NEWS


XMM-Newton-NEWS  #56,    05-Apr-2006

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:


Querying other archives from the XSA

As of version 2.9 of the XMM-Newton Science Archive (XSA), which has been recently deployed, it is possible to perform queries to external archival facilities through the XSA. Clicking on the button "Query other Catalogues" causes a new panel to pop-up beside each record in an observation list. This panel allows the user to define the radius of a cone search around the nominal XMM-Newton observation position, and to specify the external archive facility (or facilities) to be searched. More than 20 external archives can be queried from the XSA user interface. These include:
This facility has been simultaneously deployed in the ESA archives for the ISO, INTEGRAL and XMM-Newton missions. Users of any of these ESA archives will have at just one click distance the whole suite of data download and interactive data analysis facilities that each ESA archive offers.

The results of the queries depend on the nature of the external archive being searched. Generally, a list of the observations having a field-of-view overlapping the field-of-view of some XMM-Newton observation, or a list of sources falling in the XMM-Newton field-of-view, is returned. Whenever allowed by the external facility, a direct link to data download is provided.

Should you have any questions or suggestions about this or any other XSA facility, please do not hesitate to contact the XMM-Newton HelpDesk (xmmhelp@sciops.esa.int).

XMM-Newton Extended Source Analysis

The EPIC Background Working Group announces the release of several tools to help in the analysis and interpretation of the background for extended sources. The software calculates the quiescent particle background and produces background spectra and images for user-defined regions of the detectors. Currently the software only works for the MOS detectors. The package, including a Users Manual, is available from the SOC at:

   http://xmm.esac.esa.int/external/xmm_sw_cal/background/epic_esas.shtml

and from the GSFC GOF at:

   http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/xmm/xmmhp_xmmesas.html


Yours sincerely,
XMM-Newton SOC