XMM-Newton News Archive - Year 2026

 

Back to News Archive.

AO-26 Opening 19-Aug-2026

XMM-Newton Announcement of Opportunity (AO-26)

Letter of Invitation by the ESA Director of Science

Dear Colleague,

I am pleased to invite you to respond to the 26th “Announcement of Opportunity" to submit proposals for observations to be performed with the XMM-Newton observatory.

This Announcement solicits proposals to be carried out between May 2027 and April 2028. Proposers from institutes located worldwide are welcome to participate. All proposals will be subject to peer review by the XMM-Newton Observing Time Allocation Committee.

The detailed schedule of milestones of the announcement, the required software tools and the documentation are available from:

     https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/ao26

I would appreciate it if you would distribute this invitation to interested colleagues.

I wish you every success in using the XMM-Newton observatory.

Yours sincerely,
Professor Carole Mundell
Director of Science

Key milestones for this announcement

Announcement of Opportunity 19 August 2026
Due date for Proposals 09 October 2026 (12:00 UT)
Final OTAC approved program mid December 2026

 

Timeline for Phase II proposal submission

After the cycle of proposal submission and selection, the observation details for successful proposals must be entered into the observatory system. This is done during "Phase II" proposal submission.

Find below for your information the anticipated timeline for that eventual Phase II:

Start of Phase II proposal submission 12 January 2027
Closure of Phase II proposal submission 29 January 2027

 

Further details on the XMM-Newton SOC web portal.

Supernova remnant W50 17-August-2026
Featured Image: The Microquasar and the Manatee
The supernova remnant W50 harbors an extreme system at its heart. Near the center of the remnant, the microquasar SS 433 exhibits an immense pair of relativistic jets, likely powered by a stellar-mass black hole accreting material from a companion star. Investigators used NuSTAR and XMM-Newton to understand the source of the X-ray emission in that region and the potential for SS 433 to accelerate particles to relativistic velocities.
Read the full story in AAS Nova web portal.

PHL 1811 12-August-2026
Famous oddball quasar isn't X-ray weak after all, astronomers say
For more than two decades, the quasar PHL 1811 has been considered the prototype of a rare class of "intrinsically X-ray weak" quasars, thought to produce unusually little X-ray radiation. But in 2024, the Einstein Probe spacecraft caught the object in a bright X-ray flare. In a new study, astronomers combined that observation with more than 20 years of archival data, including XMM-Newton data, to revisit the mystery.
Read the full story in Phys.org web portal.

XMM-Newton recovers autonomously after reaction wheel bit flip 07-August-2026
"I got this" – XMM-Newton recovers autonomously and avoids lengthy recovery
A single particle from space, likely a cosmic ray or solar wind particle, put XMM-Newton's resilience to the test on 1 August 2026 at 09:21, triggering a "bit flip" that caused reaction wheel number 4 to power off unexpectedly.
Within seconds of the wheel powering off, XMM-Newton recovered autonomously without consuming any fuel thanks to a new onboard software capability introduced in February 2025.
Read the full story here in our XMM-Newton SOC web portal.

First Edition of the GOF-SOC Bulletin 31-July-2026
First edition of the GOF-SOC Bulletin
Welcome to the first joint XMM-Newton General Observer Facility (GOF) and Science Operations Centre (SOC) bulletin. This initiative is designed to keep you regularly informed on observing proposals, software, and science updates. Bulletins will be released on a quarterly basis, so stay on the lookout for future releases.
Highlights from this issue include: the AO-26 Call for Proposals, the release of the 5XMM-DR15 catalogue, The X-ray Universe 2026 conference, the extension of mission operations, recent science successes, new NASA disclosure form requirements, and an opportunity to share your science with us.
Read the full bulletin (PDF) on the HEASARC web portal.

The X-ray Universe 2026 conference in Elche, Spain 30-July-2026
The X-ray Universe 2026 conference held in Elche, Spain
The X-ray Universe 2026 conference, the 7th in the series, organized by the XMM-Newton Project, was successful and took place on 8–11 June in Elche, Spain. In total 286 people registered, of which 16 were online registrations. Distribution among countries: 189 from ESA Member States (largest Italy, Germany), 39 from the US and 58 elsewhere. This conference encompassed a broad range of high-energy astrophysics topics, from Solar system studies to cosmology, and provided a showcase for results and discoveries from XMM-Newton as well as from the variety of other current missions. The scientific potential of future mission projects and the evolution of the scientific analysis landscape were further topics. The conference featured 14 invited, 13 solicited and 4 plenary talks (all during the morning Plenary Session), 197 contributed talks spread over 4 Parallel Sessions per day, and 72 poster presentations.
Conference group photo: full resolution image.
Further details on the The X-ray Universe 2026 conference web page.

astronomers-recurring-black-hole-eruption 23-July-2026
Astronomers catch a recurring black hole eruption in real time
Astronomers have witnessed the third major outburst from the supermassive black hole in IC 3599, providing a rare opportunity to study a recurring extreme accretion event. Observations from XMM-Newton, together with multiwavelength data, have helped track the evolution of the eruption and offer new insights into the physics of black hole accretion and variability.
Further details on Phys.org web portal.

Sign up for the XMM-Newton GOF-SOC Bulletin 08-July-2026
Sign up for the GOF-SOC Bulletin
The new XMM-Newton GOF-SOC Bulletin is launching at the end of July. Sign up through the HEASARC XMM-Newton page to have it delivered to your inbox, and select the XMMNEWS mailing list when subscribing.
Further details on HEASARC web portal.

XMM-Newton and Chandra revise distance to outer spiral arms 01-July-2026
XMM-Newton helps revise distance to outer spiral arms
XMM-Newton and NASA's Chandra have measured dust-scattered X-ray echoes from three gamma-ray bursts—GRB 221009A, 160623A and 031203—ringing through the Milky Way's outer spiral arms. By tracking how these echoes expanded over time, Beatrice Vaia and colleagues directly pinned the distance to the scattering dust, confirming the Perseus arm and finding the Outer Scutum-Centaurus Arm and Outer Arm up to 10% farther out than previous models suggested. The X-ray technique complements Gaia by probing accurately to longer distances in regions where stellar parallax is less precise.
Further details on ESA.int web portal.

Ultraluminous X-ray source in Whale galaxy NGC 4631 26-June-2026
Ultraluminous X-ray source in Whale galaxy investigated for spectral and timing variability
Using archival Chandra, XMM-Newton and Swift/XRT data, astronomers led by Sinan Allak have carried out the first dedicated spectral and timing study of the transient ultraluminous X-ray source X-4 in NGC 4631, the Whale galaxy. Its 0.3–10 keV luminosity varies by more than two orders of magnitude over the full baseline, with kilosecond-scale peaks suggesting a radiatively driven, optically thick wind. The spectral evolution fits super-Eddington accretion rather than a standard thin disk, pointing to a stellar-mass neutron star or black hole accretor.
Further details on Phys.org web portal.

Powerful ultra-fast outflow from distant black hole 16-June-2026
Powerful UFO spotted blasting from a distant black hole
Using XMM-Newton and NuSTAR, astronomers have detected one of the most powerful ultra-fast outflows (UFOs) ever seen from a distant supermassive black hole, in the hyper-luminous quasar WISSH13 at cosmic noon. X-ray spectra reveal two wind components moving at roughly 10% and 30% of the speed of light—a slower long-lived sheath and a faster spine seen only in recent data—consistent with a layered outflow structure. Together they eject about 21 and 24 solar masses of material per year, making this the highest-redshift UFO detected in a non-lensed quasar to date.
Further details on Phys.org web portal.

ESA science missions get green light for new discoveries 11-June-2026
ESA science missions get green light for new discoveries
At its meeting in Tenerife on 10–11 June, ESA's Science Programme Committee endorsed extensions for 13 missions whose current science phases were due to end before the close of 2026, including XMM-Newton. The decision secures continued operations for the observatory into its third decade, alongside BepiColombo, Cheops, Einstein Probe, Mars Express, Solar Orbiter, XRISM and others, reflecting their ongoing ability to deliver novel science for European and international communities.
Further details on ESA.int web portal.

Dormant black hole revives in nearby galaxy ESO 511-G030 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.

XSA_archive 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.

Space telescopes track nearby quasar X-ray state transition 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.

NASA IXPE fresh look at RCW 86 supernova remnant 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.

Chandra resolves why black holes hit the brakes on growth 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.

XRISM provides sharpest X-ray spectra of spinning black hole 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.