XMM-Newton SOC Home Page - XMM-Newton

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

Research investigates variability of the ultraluminous X-ray source NGC 925 ULX-3 28-Jun-2022
Astronomers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and elsewhere have observed an ultraluminous X-ray source known as NGC 925 ULX-3 using NASA's Swift and NuSTAR spacecraft, as well as ESA's XMM-Newton satellite.
Further details on Phys web portal.

Research examines X-ray intraday variability of blazar Markarian 421 13-Jun-2022
By analyzing the data from ESA's XMM-Newton satellite, astronomers from the Astronomical Observatory of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland, and elsewhere, have investigated X-ray intraday variability of a nearby blazar known as Markarian 421.
Further details on Phys web portal.

X-ray Astronomy comes of Age 09-Jun-2022
The Chandra X-ray Observatory (Chandra) and the X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) continue to expand the frontiers of knowledge about high-energy processes in the Universe.
Further details on Nature web portal.

Astronomers investigate highly variable polar V496 UMa 31-May-2022
By analyzing data from ESA's XMM-Newton spacecraft and NASA's TESS telescope, German astronomers have inspected a highly variable polar known as V496 UMa.
Further details on Phys web portal.

Astronomers survey the least massive black holes at the center of galaxies in the local universe 3-May-2022
Our research work has revealed the nature of the least massive supermassive black holes at the centers of nearby galaxies. We used high-quality X-ray data from the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton observatory to closely study the temporal and spectral behaviors...
Further details on Science X web portal.

A Spiral Galaxy That Doesn’t Play by the Rules 6-April-2022
The authors begin by introducing seven superluminous spiral galaxies, a recently discovered class of huge galaxies with spiral or lenticular shapes. Using the X-ray telescope XMM-Newton, the authors found no X-ray emission surrounding two of their galaxies.
Further details on AAS Nova web portal.