NSSDCA ID: ASXR-00024
Availability: At NSSDC, Ready for Offline Distribution (or Staging if Digital)
This four CD-ROM set constitutes a machine readable form of the data from the Image Proportional Counter (IPC) detector in event list format. The IPC was one of two imaging detectors on-board the Einstein Observatory, which was a satellite-based imaging X-ray telescope with sensitivity over a 0.2-3.5 keV energy range; it operated from November 1978 to April 1981. Einstein was essentially a pointed (as opposed to scanning) mission, observing some 3,935 targets with the IPC, the instrument most often in the focal plane. The IPC data on these CD-ROMs differ from the IPC image data in that they contain more detailed information, such as x-ray arrival time, photon pulse height bin, and full-resolution IPC pixel position, for each x-ray detected by the IPC and included in the IPC image. The user may thus perform spectral or timing analysis on the data herein or generate subsets of the data based on more stringent selection criteria than those used in the generation of the standard IPC images. However, the current images still retain the standard event screening (outlined in SCREEN.DOC) excluding the outer regions of the detector and periods of high background. Since this excluded data may still be useful for bright sources, we are planning to release the unscreened data at a later date. These disks contain: event list data for 4093 sequences; auxiliary data files, calibration data, Bright Earth and Deep Survey data for background subtraction; documentation about the event lists and their use; and image display software for a variety of systems, plus software for converting from event list to standard FITS array files. The event list data files on these CD-ROMs conform to the n-dimensional binary table extension ("BINTABLE") of the Flexible Image Transport System (FITS). The CD-ROMs themselves have been mastered according to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Standard 9660, Level 1.
Questions and comments about this data collection can be directed to: Dr. Cynthia Y. Cheung
Name | Role | Original Affiliation | |
---|---|---|---|
Dr. Michael R. Garcia | General Contact | Center for Astrophysics | garcia@cfa.harvard.edu |