X-ray spectroscopy with the Reflection Grating Spectrometer on-board of XMM.
Abstract
The X-ray Multi-Mirror (XMM) mission is the second of the four cornerstone projects of the ESA long-term programme for space science, Horizon 2000. The payload comprises three co-aligned high-throughput, imaging telescopes with a FOV of 30' and spatial resolution <20″ Imaging CCD-detectors (EPIC) are placed in the focus of each telescope (with total effective area ≡4000 cm2 at 1.5 keV). Behind two of the three telescopes, about half of the X-ray light is utilized by the Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS) (with maximum total effective area in first order of ≈200 cm2 at 12 Å for both modules). The instruments are co-aligned and measure simultaneously with an optical monitor (1800-10000 Å, limiting magnitude 24m5, spatial resolution 1″ FOV 8'). It is envisaged that the observatory is launched near the end of the 20th century in a deep eccentric orbit allowing for sensitive, long uninterrupted observations of a large variety of astrophysical sources. XMM offers the possibility to perform broadband (0.1-10 keV) imaging spectroscopy with a resolving power E/ΔE ≅ 5-60 with the EPIC, combined with high resolution (Δλ 0.04 Å, or E/Δ 150-800 in 1st order) spectroscopy between 5-35 Å with the RGS. Compared to the ASCA-SIS, the EPIC has the same spectral resolution, but more than 10 times larger effective area and spatial resolution, covering a wider energy range, while the RGS has comparable effective area, but at least 10 times more spectral resolution.
- Publication:
-
Roentgenstrahlung from the Universe
- Pub Date:
- February 1996
- Bibcode:
- 1996rftu.proc..675B
- Keywords:
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- X-Ray Astronomy: Space Missions;
- X-Ray Astronomy: Space Instrumentation