8.3 Data Set of a Pointed Observation

The guest observer receives the data of his/her observation from one of the two RSDCs as a set of data files depending slightly on the used detector (PSPC or HRI):

photon events

with information about the time of arrival (spacecraft clock), detector coordinates (x, y), pulse height amplitude (PHA), normalized sky coordinates, energy channel derived from PHA

event rates

exposure map

background maps

in the broad, soft, and hard energy band

attitude data

orbit data

accepted time intervals

calibration data

like effective area and detector response matrix.

The corresponding files are delivered to the observer in FITS\ format (RDF) on EXABYTE or DAT tapes, respectively. Public data sets    are posted on an FTP server and can be accessed via INTERNET (anonymous FTP or WWW). The data sets can be directly used as input for the levelII S/W systems EXSAS and PROS for a further detailed analysis.

In addition each data set delivered to the PI is accompanied by print-outs which contain the most important results of the SASS analysis (cf. The ROSAT Data Product Guide [Dennerl et al.1994]):

general information

related to the spacecraft:

• pointing direction in equatorial and galactic sky coordinates
• number of observation intervals with their start/end times
• the total useful observation time
• the mean life time

housekeeping information

consisting of analogue values and status of subystems:

• event rates of X-ray and SAA detector
• aspect solution history (RA, DEC, roll-angle error, derived quality)
• accepted time history

scientific results

including:

• list of X-ray sources and their derived properties
• X-ray images in different energy bands and contour plots
• overlay and list of SIMBAD sources and results from a cross correlation of SIMBAD with ROSAT sources
• X-ray spectra analyzed with a power law and Raymond-Smith model spectrum
• spatial extent plots
• time analysis with plots of a light curve, a Kolmogoroff-Smirnov test, and a fast Fourier transformation

source properties

derived for each X-ray source and collected in a table with following columns:

• likelihood of detection
• source position in sky and detector coordinates
• count rates of source and background
• exposure time
• spatial extent and its likelihood
• hardness ratios
• spectral fit parameters (temperature, power law index, column density) and -values
• time variability

© X-Ray Group at MPE (group)
last update:2001/09/27 22:35:13, editor of this page:Ortwin Schwentker