THE XMM-NEWTON ABC GUIDE, STREAMLINED
The GOF has streamlined the time-honored ABC Guide to make it easier to find and use the sections that users may be interested in, taking into account what type of data they have and how they want to reduce them: on a command line, or with a GUI that shows all the task keywords. Users who are new to SAS will likely prefer the GUI, while more experienced users may prefer the command line. The walk-throughs use the same example datasets as in the ABC Guide, and are listed below. All are publicly available through the HEASARC archive.
All of the run-throughs assume that the data has been downloaded to your local machine and uncompressed. It is also assumed that SAS has already been installed and initialized. Information on setting up SAS and running it can be found here.
New users are reminded that SAS does not come with fitting software, so you will need to fit your data with CIAO or HEAsoft packages.
And now we can reduce our data!
| Data Type | Example Dataset | Locally-Installed SAS |
|---|---|---|
| EPIC (IMAGING Mode) | Lockman Hole, ObsID 0123700101 | Command Line or GUI |
| EPIC-PN (TIMING Mode) | Cen X-3, ObsID 0400550201 | Command Line or GUI |
| EPIC-MOS (TIMING Mode) | Mkn 841, ObsID 0070740101 | Command Line or GUI |
| RGS | Capella, ObsID 0134720401 | Command Line or GUI |
| OM (IMAGE mode) | Lockman Hole, ObsID 0123700101 | Command Line or GUI |
| OM (FAST mode) | Mkn 421, ObsID 0411081601 | Command Line or GUI |
| OM (GRISM mode) | BPM 16274, ObsID 0125320801 | Command Line or GUI |
SAS does not include fitting software for further data analysis, but there are several commonly-used packages that can used for this purpose. Links to how to fit EPIC and RGS spectra with some of them are below. Prior to fitting, users are strongly encouraged to read this Guide's discussion on statistics. More information can be found in Nousek & Shue (1989), Humphrey et al. (2009), Kaastra (2017), and the discussion on statistics (Chapter 7) in The Handbook of X-ray Astronomy.
| I want to... | Example Dataset | Using... |
|---|---|---|
| Simulate an EPIC Image and Spectrum | ... | SIXTE | Simulate an EPIC or RGS Spectrum | ... | Sherpa or XSpec |
| Fit an EPIC Spectrum | Lockman Hole, ObsID 0123700101 | Sherpa or XSpec |
| Fit EPIC and OM Spectra | Lockman Hole, ObsID 0123700101 | Sherpa or XSpec |
| Examine PN Timing Data | EXO 2030+375, ObsID 0745240201 | Xronos |
If you have any questions concerning XMM-Newton send e-mail to xmmhelp@lists.nasa.gov
