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ESA’s X-Ray Astronomy Mission, XMM

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

B.G. Taylor  and
A. Peacock
B.G. Taylor
Affiliation:
Space Science Department, ESTEC-ESA, Noordwijk, The Netherlands
A. Peacock
Affiliation:
Space Science Department, ESTEC-ESA, Noordwijk, The Netherlands

Abstract

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ESA’s X-ray Astronomy Mission, XMM, scheduled for launch in 1998, is the second of four cornerstones of ESA’s long term science program Horizon 2000. Covering the range from about 0.1 to 10 keV, it will provide a high throughput of 5000 cm2 at 7 keV with three independant telescopes, and have a spatial resolution better than 30 arcsec. Broadband spectrophotometry is provided by CCD cameras while reflection gratings provide medium resolution spectroscopy (resolving power of about 400) in the range 0.3–3 keV. Long uninterrupted observations will be made from the 24 hr period, highly eccentric orbit, reaching a sensitivity approaching 10−15 erg cm−2 s−1 in one orbit. A 30 cm UV/optical telescope is bore-sighted with the x-ray telescopes to provide simultaneous optical counterparts to the numerous serendipitous X-ray sources which will be detected during every observation.

Type
II. Future Missions
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 123: Observatories in Earth Orbit and Beyond , 1990 , pp. 129 - 140
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1990

References

Peacock, A., Taylor, B.G., Ellwood, J.: 1990, Adv. in Space Res. 10-2, 273–285 Google Scholar