XMM-Newton Science Archive (XSA) version 2.8 now online

 

Version 2.8 of the XMM-Newton Science Archive (XSA) is now available at the following URL:

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

This version includes several improvements and new facilities, among them being:

  • access to a first sample of multi-color optical images from the XMM-Newton Survey Science Center (SSC) X-ray IDentification (XID) follow-up program. This first sample comprises images obtained with the 2.5m Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) and the Wide Field Camera (WFC) prime focus camera. A new query panel ("XID Program Observation") enables browsing the XID data products according to a wide range of parameters
  • a new field in the observation catalog records, flagging XMM-Newton observations which were coordinated with other space- or ground-based observatories
  • coordinate searches take now accurately into account the exact shape of the XMM-Newton instrument fields-of-view, instead of using a circular approximation
  • search on the ODF production date
  • access to a data quality report for each observation. Users will find details of the XMM-Newton data quality process at the following URL:  https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/data-quality
  • a link between observations and the XMM-Newton image Gallery (https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/image-gallery), whenever results from the observation are described in the Gallery
  • a link to the approved A04 target list
  • direct launch of the "Aladin" (http://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/aladin.gml) tool on the EPIC observation field-of-view images from the XSA user interface
  • display of EPIC product or INT WFC XID images through "ds9"
  • visualization of the 1XMM EPIC Serendipitous Source Catalogue sources on the EPIC field-of-view images, when displayed through the XSA built-in image viewer (XSPDT)
  • search on all query and display fields in the XSA user interface ("Find Field" menu item)
  • full flexibility in the selection of columns to be included in the ASCII catalogue output file ["Save Results (CUSTOM one-line format)" menu item]
  • visualization of the INT WFC image FITS headers

A short "guided tour" of the XSA is available at the following URL:

   https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/guide-to-xmm-products
 

together with a list of "how-to" Frequently Asked Questions:

   http://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/xsa-faq-usage