XMM-Newton-NEWS


XMM-Newton-NEWS  #90,    17-Apr-2009

XMM-Newton Science Operations Centre at
ESA's European Space Astronomy Centre,
P.O. Box - Apdo. 78, 28691 Villanueva de la Cañada, 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:


Next XMM-Newton Users Group meeting

The date of the next Users Group (UG) meeting is 6th - 7th May, 2009. A dedicated Web page of the Users Group is available at:

     https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/users-group

This web page provides, among others, the contact points for all interested astronomers to send their comments and suggestions to the UG members prior to the meeting.

Please find herewith the agenda:

     1.  Welcome                                 M. Arnaud
     2.  Adoption of the Agenda                  All
     3.  Overall Mission status                  A. Parmar
     4.  Instrument operations                   R. Munoz
     5.  Report of the Project Scientist         N. Schartel
     6.  Loss of Contact / New Operation         P. Rodriguez
     7.  Background                              I. de la Calle
     8.  Calibration
       8.1 EPIC Calibration Status               M. Guainazzi
       8.2 RGS Calibration Status                A. Pollock
       8.3 OM Calibration Status                 A. Talavera
       8.4 Cross-calibration Status              M. Stuhlinger
         - cross-calibration within XMM-Newton
         - with other missions
     9.  SAS and WEB SAS developments            C. Gabriel
     10. SSC status                              M. Watson
     11. Action items from last meeting          M. Ehle
     12. Input from the community                Mission Scientists
     13. General Discussion/AOB                  All
     14. Dedicated Discussion                    UG
     15. Date and time of next meeting           UG

9th XMM-Newton SAS Workshop: deadline for registration extended

As announced in XMM-Newsletter issue #87, the 9th SAS Workshop will be held at the European Space Astronomy Centre of ESA (Villafranca del Castillo, Spain) between the 29th of June and the 3rd of July 2009.

SAS Workshops aim at providing XMM-Newton users with a basic introduction to the procedures and techniques to successfully reduce and analyse XMM-Newton data. The 5-day workshop is organised around 5 half-days of presentations and 5 half-days of practical training sessions. The sessions cover all aspects of data reduction and data analysis for all the X-ray cameras on-board XMM-Newton, as well as for its Optical Monitor.

A few places are still available to attend this workshop. Therefore, the deadline for registration has been extended to Friday, May 22nd, 2009. Interested persons can find more information about the workshop and registration process at the following page:

     https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/sas-workshop-2014

No fee is required to attend the SAS Workshop.

XMM-Newton Workshop "Supersoft X-ray Sources - New Developments":
abstract booklet available

As announced in issue #80 of the XMM-Newton Newsletter, the XMM-Newton Science Operations Centre is organising an astrophysical workshop from Monday 18th to Wednesday 20th May 2009 at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) close to Madrid, Spain.

The abstract booklet for this workshop is now available online at the workshop website:

     https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/2009-workshop/

Meeting announcement:
International Astronomical Consortium for High Energy Calibration

The IACHEC (International Astronomical Consortium for High Energy Calibration; http://www.iachec.org) is a working platform where scientists involved in the calibration of high-energy instruments coordinate their work. The IACHEC aims to provide standards for high energy calibration and supervise cross calibration between different missions. This goal is reached through working groups, where IACHEC members cooperate to define calibration standards and procedures.

The next IACHEC meeting will take place April 27-29 2009 in Japan at the Shonan Village Centre south of Tokyo.

IACHEC welcomes contributions from the whole high-energy astrophysics community. Colleagues interested in the IACHEC activities, or wishing to attend the 4th IACHEC meeting are encouraged to visit the following page:

     http://www.iachec.org/meetings/2009/index.html


Yours sincerely,
XMM-Newton SOC