MAXI monitoring X-ray transients in the first year
Abstract
MAXI (Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image) is the first astronomical mission carried out on the ISS (International Space Station). The payload was delivered to the ISS in July 2009. Since it was activated on August 14, MAXI has been scanning all-sky X-ray image for every 92 minutes of ISS orbital period. MAXI carries two kinds of X-ray slit cameras: SSC (Solid-state Slit Camera) and GSC (Gas Slit Camera), which cover the 0.5-10 keV and 2-30 keV energy bands, respectively. The pipeline analysis processes all-sky images and light curves of hundreds of pre-listed sources and new-discovered sources in three energy bands of 1.5-4, 4-10, 10-20 keV every day, which are archived on the MAXI home page (http://maxi.riken.jp). They are revealing transient behaviors and long-term variations of various X-ray sources including Galactic X-ray binaries, active starts as well as AGNs. The preliminary source-detection sensitivity is 10-20 mCrab per day in a typical observation condition, which will be improved if the instrument calibration and data reduction are refined. We summarize the results in the first year.
- Publication:
-
38th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
- Pub Date:
- 2010
- Bibcode:
- 2010cosp...38.2560S