Tracking Contamination on the Suzaku X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer
Abstract
The X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (XIS) aboard Suzaku has been operating successfully since August 2005. During that time, the low-energy sensitivity has significantly worsened, likely due to an unknown contaminant building up on the optical blocking filters of each sensor. The exact composition and surface density of the contamimant has a great impact on a unique strength of this instrument, namely its combination of high efficiency and excellent spectral resolution at energies below 1 keV. We review efforts to track the temporal and spatial variations of the contamination and to characterize its composition.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #210
- Pub Date:
- May 2007
- Bibcode:
- 2007AAS...210.8610M