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RXTE News Archive: 2008 | RXTE FAQ |
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Contents:
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RXTE Discovers Stellar Ticking Time Bomb Explodes on Cue April 30, 2008
RXTE Finds Smallest Known Black Hole April 1, 2008
Powerful Explosions Suggest Neutron Star Missing Link February 21, 2008
PCA SAA History File Production Resumes February 1, 2008
Temporary Interruption of PCA SAA History File Production January 22, 2008
ASM Source Intensity Errors for Sources in Crowded Fields (infrequent but significant) January 2008
RXTE Discovers Stellar Ticking Time Bomb Explodes on Cue
April 30, 2008
A team of researchers led by Diego Altamirano has discovered how to predictx-ray bursts from the low mass x-ray binary system 4U 1636-53. For more information,see:
NASA
PressRelease
Astrophysical Journal
paperv673: L35-L38, January 2008
"Different manifestations
of accretion onto compact objects",D. Altamirano PhD thesis, April 2008
RXTE Finds Smallest Known Black Hole
April 1, 2008
Two NASA scientists announce that a binary system discovered by RXTE containsthe smallest known black hole - a 3.8 solar mass featherweight. The researcherspresented their results at the American Astronomical Society High-Energy AstrophysicsDivision meeting in Los Angeles, California.
For more information, see:
Powerful Explosions Suggest Neutron Star Missing Link
February 21, 2008
Researchers using RXTE and Chandra report the first ever observations of magnetar-like bursts from a normal young pulsar: "We are watching one type of neutron star literally change into another right before our very eyes. This is a long-sought missing link between different types of pulsars," says lead author Fotis Gavriil of NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and the University of Maryland, Baltimore. The results appear inthe February 21 issue of Science Express.
For more information, see:
NASA Press
Release
Science Express
article (February 21, 2008)
PCA SAA History File Production Resumes
February 1, 2008
Production of the PCA SAA History file, used for PCA background generation, has resumed. Users can retrieve the file from the usual area: ftp://legacy.gsfc.nasa.gov/xte/calib_data/pca_bkgd/pca_saa_history.gz This notice officially rescinds the earlier news item about the PCA SAA History file (released Jan. 22, 2008).
Temporary Interruption of PCA SAA History File Production
January 22, 2008
Production of the PCA SAA History file, used for PCA background generation, has been temporarily interrupted. The latest file available contains PCA SAA History data up through January 20, 2008. To analyze PCA data beyond that date, please use the predictive SAA history file, located in the same part of the XTE FTP area:
ftp://legacy.gsfc.nasa.gov/xte/calib_data/pca_bkgd/pca_saa_predict.gz
A similar notice will be posted when PCA SAA History file production resumes.
ASM Source Intensity Errors for Sources in Crowded Fields (infrequent but significant)
January 2008
Notice:
A significant problem with a small number of ASM source intensities in the light curve of a Galactic X-ray source has recently come to attention. Please see the "Important Caveat" section of the MIT ASM light curves page.
If you have a question about RXTE, please send email to one of our help desks.