XMM-Newton-NEWS

XMM-Newton-NEWS #149, 21-Jun-2013

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

XMM-Newton Mission Extended

Following the regular two-year cycle for ESA mission extensions, on 19 June the ESA's Science Programme Committee approved a new extension for XMM-Newton until 31 December 2016 - subject to mid-term confirmation, in late 2014.

Further details can be found at:

http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=51944

XMM-Newton Users Group:
Minutes of meeting, resolution and presentations available

The XMM-Newton Users Group met on the 16th and 17th of May 2013 at ESAC. The minutes were approved on the 10th of June and are available, together with a resolution of the Users Group and the presentations of the meeting, at:

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

Version 13.0.1 of the Science Analysis System (SAS) released

A patch to SAS v13.0.0 (see issue #148 of this Newsletter) has been released due to problems encountered in a small number of tasks. We have taken the opportunity to upgrade some other tasks. The full list of changes introduced is:

problem with a call to 'epnoise' from 'epchain' due to the removal of intermediate files solved.
keywords created by the X-ray loading correction in 'epicproc' now properly propagated to the final event list. Also, intermediate files are removed, unless there is an explicit request for keeping them.
X-ray loading correction not applied if the CLOSED filter is used during the offset map calculation.
problem calling "espfilt" with non-default parameters solved.
multixmmselect' can now deal with exposures which do not cover the selected area.
RGS images produced with 'rgsimplot' are now correctly displayed.
problem with wrong values of coordinates in the combined OM source list fixed.
bug in the processing of full-frame high-resolution OM images fixed.

For more information and to download this patch, please go to:

http://xmm.esac.esa.int/sas/current/sas_news.shtml

Data Analysis Threads for SAS v13.0

AS threads are simple examples intended to help users, in particular beginners, to reduce and analyse XMM-Newton data. They cover from the basic system set-up to the most complex topics.

SAS analysis threads have been revised to reflect the latest changes included in version 13.0. New threads have been added or updated with new analysis approaches, like, for example, "Overlapping EPIC data treatment: multixmmselect" or "How to evaluate the pile-up fraction in an EPIC source".

The new version of the threads can be found at:

http://xmm.esac.esa.int/sas/current/documentation/threads/

Yours sincerely,
XMM-Newton SOC