XMM-Newton-NEWS


XMM-Newton-NEWS  #105,    15-Apr-2010

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:


XMM-Newton Users Group meeting #11: comments to UG members are welcome

The date of the next Users Group (UG) meeting is 12th - 13th May, 2010. 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. Muñoz
 5. Report of the Project Scientist N. Schartel
 6. Calibration
     6.1 EPIC Calibration status
           (and cross-calibration MOS/pn and Timing mode)
     6.2 RGS Calibration status
           (and cross-calibration RGS/EPIC)
     6.3 OM Calibration status
     6.4 Cross-calibration status with other missions
  
M. Guainazzi

A. Pollock

A. Talavera
M. Stuhlinger
 7. SAS developments and future plans C. Gabriel
 8. SSC status M. Watson
 9. Action items from last meeting M. Ehle
10. Input from the community
Mission Scientists   
11. General Discussion/AOB All
12. Dedicated Discussion UG
13. Date and time of next meeting UG


XMM-Newton Workshop "Ultra-Luminous X-ray sources and Middle Weight Black Holes":
programme and abstract booklet available

As announced in issues #95, #103 and #104 of this Newsletter, the XMM-Newton Science Operations Centre is organising an astrophysical workshop from Monday 24th to Wednesday 26th of May 2010 at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) near Madrid, Spain.

The programme and abstract booklet for this workshop are now available online at the workshop website:

     https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/2010-workshop/


Incorrect EPIC band-4 fluxes in the 2XMM and 2XMMi catalogues:
problem description and correct data

The XMM-Newton Survey Science Centre (SSC) has uncovered an error in the 2XMM and 2XMMi catalogues which needs to be brought to the attention of users of these catalogues.

The key points are:

  1. The error affects only the computation of the EPIC band 4 (2.0-4.5keV) flux values for detections (the EP_4_FLUX column) and the corresponding quantity (the SC_EP_4_FLUX column) for unique sources when one or more of the constituent detections is affected. The relevant (OBSMLI) source lists held in the XSA archive also contain the incorrect EP_4_FLUX value.
  2. Statistically, the impact of the error is that the correct EPIC band 4 flux values are systematically larger than the erroneous values (typically by a few sigma) - the mean shift is about a factor 2. While the scale of the correction is modest, we emphasize that the uncorrected values are simply wrong and that the impact on XMM-Newton science analyses that exploit the EPIC band 4 fluxes can be significant.

A fuller description of the problem, its background and access to downloadable files containing the correct data is available from

     http://xmmssc-www.star.le.ac.uk/Catalogue/ep4_flux/ep4flux.html

The new incremental version of the catalogue, 2XMMi-DR3, planned for release in late April 2010, contains the correct EPIC band 4 fluxes. It will be available soon from

     http://xmmssc-www.star.le.ac.uk/Catalogue

and other hosting sites listed therein, including the XSA.




Yours sincerely,
XMM-Newton SOC