Suzaku News #066: Software/Calibration updates and U.S. Cycle 5 results

[suzakunews@lists.nasa.gov]

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April 19, 2010

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[1] Updated software and HXD/XIS/XRT calibration
[2] Updated gain calibration of GSO
[3] Updated data analysis guide soon to be released
[4] (For US proposers): Cycle 5 Stage 1 results and Stage 2 (budget) deadline

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[1] Updated software and HXD/XIS/XRT calibration

 New release of the Suzaku software and calibration data is available
 for download.

==============
 Software :
==============

  The Suzaku software (version 16.0) has been released as part of the
  HEAsoft version 6.9 and can be downloaded from:

    http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/software/lheasoft/download.html

  The changes in the Suzaku software and related packages are listed
  in the HEAsoft Release Notes 6.9 at:

    http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/software/lheasoft/release_notes.html

  Also see the Suzaku GOF web pages at :

    http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/suzaku/aehp_data_analysis.html
 
  Both source and binary distributions are available for all the
  supported platforms. These are listed at :

    http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/lheasoft/supported_platforms.html

  For detailed installation information, see the install document,
  available online (or in each distribution) at:

    http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/lheasoft/install.html

  Please report any Suzaku software problem via:

    http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/Feedback

  and select Suzaku under "Choose a mailing list"


==============
Calibration:
==============

   The latest calibration files released for all instruments are:
   HXD (20100323), XIS(20100123) and XRT (20070622).

  The Suzaku CALDB can be downloaded via the Web at or via anonymous
  ftp to be installed on the user's machine or local network.

  *** DOWNLOAD CALDB on the LOCAL MACHINE

  There is one tar file for each instrument (HXD, XIS and XRT).
  They include the XRS CALDB file (the teldef) necessary to run some of
  the software tools.
  The CALDB tar files are available from the CALDB Suzaku Web page at :

    http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/caldb/suzaku/

  or via anonymous ftp at:

    ftp://legacy.gsfc.nasa.gov/caldb/data/suzaku/hxd/goodfiles_suzaku_hxd.tar.Z
    ftp://legacy.gsfc.nasa.gov/caldb/data/suzaku/xis/goodfiles_suzaku_xis.tar.Z
    ftp://legacy.gsfc.nasa.gov/caldb/data/suzaku/xrt/goodfiles_suzaku_xrt.tar.Z

  The CALDB installation procedure is available at:

    http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/caldb/caldb_install.html

  *** NOTE on the current access to CALDB

  Note that with this software release all Suzaku tasks support the automatic 
  queries to CALDB.

  *** HELP

 Please report any problems with the installation procedure to:

    http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/Feedback

  and select CALDB under "Choose a mailing list"


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[2] Updated gain calibration of GSO

The HXD team has completed the re-calibration of the GSO.  The driver
for this was an updated gain calibration, which led to a more accurate
effective area curve and an increased usability of the lower energy
end of the GSO bandpass (50-70 keV).  We have released the updated
calibration files (HXD CALDB 20100323), software (Suzaku FTOOLS Version 16,
available as a part of HEAsoft V6.9), and background files.

For more, see:
    http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/suzaku/analysis/gso_newgain.html

------------------------

[3] Updated data analysis guide soon to be released

We are about to release Version 3 of the Suzaku data analysis (or "the ABC")
guide, incorporating many updates that have accumulated the release of
Version 2 of the guide in 2008 January.  Please note that the new calibration
of the GSO data (see above) is not included in Version 3, although the
analysis steps are similar.  A further revision of the guide will be
issued after we accumulate a few months of experiences processing and
analyzing the recalibrated GSO data.

Please check the Data Analysis page of the Suzaku GOF:

    http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/suzaku/aehp_data_analysis.html

for the release of Version 3 guide.  In the mean time, as we complete final
checks of the guide, we have made the 2010 April 1 version available as
a beta-test release in PDF and gzipped postscript formats from the URL
above.  While some changes are likely before the official release of
Version 3, they are expected to be minor.

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[4] (For US proposers): Cycle 5 Stage 1 results and Stage 2 (budget) deadline

We have e-mailed an official acceptance/rejection letter to all PIs who
submitted a Suzaku Cycle 5 Stage 1 proposal to NASA on March 29, from
"Astro-E2 Proposals" account (astroe@dbms2.gsfc.nasa.gov).  This includes
the peer review evaluation of the proposal in question, and (for accepted
proposals) an invitation to submit a Stage 2 (budget) proposal.  If you
have submitted a Stage 1 proposal to NASA, but have not received the
e-mail notification, please contact us immediately via the Feedback form
on any Suzaku GOF web page.

Stage 2 proposal must be submitted through NSPIRES by Monday, May 3rd.
For further details (including practical information about Stage 2
submission) can be found at:

    http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/suzaku/aehp_prop_tools.html