Welcome to the XMM-Newton Science Operations Centre

The European Space Agency's (ESA) X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) was launched by an Ariane 504 on December 10th 1999. XMM-Newton is ESA's second cornerstone of the Horizon 2000 Science Programme. It carries 3 high throughput X-ray telescopes with an unprecedented effective area, and an optical monitor, the first flown on a X-ray observatory. The large collecting area and ability to make long uninterrupted exposures provide highly sensitive observations.

Since Earth's atmosphere blocks out all X-rays, only a telescope in space can detect and study celestial X-ray sources. The XMM-Newton mission is helping scientists to solve a number of cosmic mysteries, ranging from the enigmatic black holes to the origins of the Universe itself. Observing time on XMM-Newton is being made available to the scientific community, applying for observational periods on a competitive basis.

Read more about the spacecraft, mirrors and instruments and about the XMM-Newton SOC.

News and Highlights

02-June-2026
Dormant black hole revives in under three years, brightening 10-fold in nearby galaxy
Astronomers monitoring the Seyfert galaxy ESO 511-G030 for six years have watched its ~17-million-solar-mass black hole wake from a depleted accretion state, brightening by a factor of 10 in ultraviolet and X-rays. XMM-Newton saw the system bright in 2007 and roughly 10 times fainter in 2019; Swift follow-up from 2019 to 2025 shows the disk reviving from around 2021, with most recovery by 2023 while X-rays lagged UV before catching up in 2022–2023. After subtracting host-galaxy light, the accretion disk brightened by roughly 20–30, supporting accretion-state transitions akin to stellar-mass black holes near a universal Eddington threshold.
Further details on Phys.org web portal.

8-May-2026
XMM-Newton Archive Reprocessing Update
The entire set of XMM‑Newton archival data has recently been fully reprocessed as part of the preparation of a major update of the Serendipitous Source Catalogue. We are currently ingesting the newly reprocessed Pipeline Processing System (PPS) data into the XMM-Newton Science Archive (XSA), revolution by revolution.

During this ongoing ingestion phase, datasets processed with different PPS versions will temporarily coexist. The PPS Version column has been highlighted in XSA to allow users to easily identify which version has been applied to each observation. The PPS version associated with the new reprocessed data is v21.51.

Please be aware that, during this transitional period, PPS detected sources and the XMM-Newton Serendipitous Source Catalogue 4XMM‑DR14 and the catalogue of serendipitous sources from overlapping XMM-Newton observations 4XMM-DR14s catalogues sources may be temporarily misaligned. This situation will be fully resolved once the ingestion of the bulk reprocessing data is completed and 5XMM-DR15 is also ingested.

We appreciate your understanding while this process is underway and will keep users informed of any relevant updates.
Further details on XSA web portal.

12-April-2026
Space telescopes track nearby quasar's dramatic X-ray state transition
Using multi-epoch data from XMM-Newton, Swift, ROSAT and Einstein Probe, astronomers studied the nearby radio-quiet quasar SDSS J0005+2007 and found a dramatic transition from an X-ray-normal to an X-ray-weak state. Over roughly five years, its 0.2–10 keV flux drops by more than an order of magnitude, while ultraviolet variability is mild and optical and infrared emission remain largely stable. The results favor an absorption-driven scenario in which clumpy, largely dust-free inner gas modulates the observed X-ray output.
Further details on Phys.org web portal.

25-March-2026
NASA X-ray mission gets fresh look at 2,000-year-old supernova
NASA's IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) has observed the supernova remnant RCW 86, combining its polarimetry with legacy X-ray data from Chandra and ESA's XMM-Newton to refine the picture of this roughly 2,000-year-old blast wave. Earlier Chandra work showed a large low-density cavity that let the remnant expand faster than expected; IXPE now targets the outer rim where expansion may have stalled at the cavity edge, highlighting reflected-shock structure. In the composite image, yellow marks lower-energy X-rays and blue higher-energy emission from Chandra and XMM-Newton, alongside IXPE's view of the rim.
Further details on Phys.org web portal.

24-March-2026
Chandra resolves why black holes hit the brakes on growth
About ten billion years ago, during a period astronomers call cosmic noon, supermassive black hole growth peaked; since then their accretion has slowed dramatically. A team led by Penn State combined Chandra, XMM-Newton and eROSITA surveys covering about 1.3 million galaxies and roughly 8,000 actively growing black holes, using Chandra for the deepest fields and XMM-Newton and eROSITA for wider, tiered coverage to build a full picture across cosmic time. The study concludes that black holes are consuming material less efficiently as the universe ages—chiefly because less cold gas is available to feed them—and expects that trend to continue.
Further details on Phys.org web portal.

10-January-2026
X-ray spectra provide sharpest image to date of a rapidly spinning black hole
High-resolution spectra from XRISM combined with XMM-Newton and NuSTAR have isolated broad iron emission and reflection features near the supermassive black hole in MCG–6-30-15, providing the sharpest X-ray view yet of matter orbiting close to the event horizon and revealing multiple wind zones.
Further details on Phys.org web portal.

News Archive