Flight Calibration and Operations of the Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT)

Journal Article · Tue Sep 28 00:00:00 EDT 2004 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1810926· OSTI ID:20630204

Burrows, D N; Hill, J E; Nousek, J A ^[1]; Wells, A A; Osborne, J P; Mukerjee, K ^[2]; Chincarini, G ^[3]; Tagliaferri, G; Campana, S ^[4]

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1. Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Lab, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)
2. University of Leicester, Space Research Centre, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH (United Kingdom)
3. INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via E. Bianchi 46, Merate, 23807 (Italy)
4. Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via E. Bianchi 46, Merate, 23807 (Italy)

We present the current on-orbit calibration and operational plans for the Swift XRT. The XRT is a largely autonomous instrument and requires very little manual commanding for normal operations. A detailed calibration plan is being developed to verify the instrumental performance on-orbit, including effective area, point spread function, vignetting, spectroscopic performance, and timing accuracy. Operational plans include regular calibration measurements using on-board calibration sources as well as periodic calibration observations using celestial targets.

• OSTI ID: 20630204
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 727, Issue 1; Conference: Symposium on gamma-ray bursts: 30 years of discovery, Santa Fe, NM (United States), 8-12 Sep 2003; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.1810926; (c) 2004 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
CALIBRATION
COSMIC GAMMA BURSTS
COSMIC GAMMA SOURCES
COSMIC PHOTONS
COSMIC X-RAY BURSTS
GAMMA DETECTION
PERFORMANCE
PERIODICITY
TELESCOPE COUNTERS
X RADIATION