The Telescope Calibration of the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer
Fifty years after the very first sounding rocket measurement of cosmic X-ray polarization, the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission has effectively opened a new window into the X-ray sky. Prior to launch of IXPE, an extensive calibration campaign was carried out to fully characterize th...
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2025-01-01
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/add327 |
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| author | Brian D. Ramsey Jeffery K. Kolodziejczak Wayne H. Baumgartner Nicholas E. Thomas Stephen D. Bongiorno Philip Kaaret Stephen L. O’Dell Allyn Tennant Martin C. Weisskopf Sergio Fabiani Fabio Muleri Paolo Soffitta Enrico Costa Alessandro Di Marco Riccardo Ferrazzoli Fabio La Monaca John Rankin Ajay Ratheesh Alessio Trois Luca Baldini Ronaldo Bellazzini Alessandro Brez Luca Latronico Leonardo Lucchesi Alberto Manfreda Massimo Minuti Leonardo Orsini Michele Pinchera Carmelo Sgrò Gloria Spandre |
| author_facet | Brian D. Ramsey Jeffery K. Kolodziejczak Wayne H. Baumgartner Nicholas E. Thomas Stephen D. Bongiorno Philip Kaaret Stephen L. O’Dell Allyn Tennant Martin C. Weisskopf Sergio Fabiani Fabio Muleri Paolo Soffitta Enrico Costa Alessandro Di Marco Riccardo Ferrazzoli Fabio La Monaca John Rankin Ajay Ratheesh Alessio Trois Luca Baldini Ronaldo Bellazzini Alessandro Brez Luca Latronico Leonardo Lucchesi Alberto Manfreda Massimo Minuti Leonardo Orsini Michele Pinchera Carmelo Sgrò Gloria Spandre |
| author_sort | Brian D. Ramsey |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Fifty years after the very first sounding rocket measurement of cosmic X-ray polarization, the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission has effectively opened a new window into the X-ray sky. Prior to launch of IXPE, an extensive calibration campaign was carried out to fully characterize the response of this new type of instrument. Specifically, the polarization-sensitive detectors were intensively calibrated in Italy, where they were developed and built. The X-ray optics, which collect and focus X-rays onto the detectors, were built and calibrated in the USA. A key question was whether the telescope (optics + detectors) calibrations could be synthesized from the individual component calibrations, avoiding time consuming and costly end-to-end calibrations for a flight program with a fixed schedule. The data presented here are from a calibration of the flight spare telescope utilizing the flight spare detector and flight spare mirror assembly combined. These data show that the presence of the mirror module does not affect the polarization response of the detectors (within the required calibration accuracy) and that the angular resolution of the telescopes could be accurately determined. Thus, the original extensive stand-alone ground calibration data of all the flight detectors and all the flight optic can be utilized in full to derive the flight telescopes calibrations. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ad3726ad2dd04d76a7d984bf472e0518 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1538-3881 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
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| series | The Astronomical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-ad3726ad2dd04d76a7d984bf472e05182025-08-20T02:05:24ZengIOP PublishingThe Astronomical Journal1538-38812025-01-011701510.3847/1538-3881/add327The Telescope Calibration of the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry ExplorerBrian D. Ramsey0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1548-1524Jeffery K. Kolodziejczak1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0110-6136Wayne H. Baumgartner2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5106-0463Nicholas E. Thomas3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0411-4606Stephen D. Bongiorno4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0901-2097Philip Kaaret5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3638-0637Stephen L. O’Dell6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1868-8056Allyn Tennant7https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9443-6774Martin C. Weisskopf8https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5270-4240Sergio Fabiani9https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1533-0283Fabio Muleri10https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3331-3794Paolo Soffitta11https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7781-4104Enrico Costa12https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4925-8523Alessandro Di Marco13https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0331-3259Riccardo Ferrazzoli14https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1074-8605Fabio La Monaca15https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8916-4156John Rankin16https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9774-0560Ajay Ratheesh17https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0411-4243Alessio Trois18https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3180-6002Luca Baldini19https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9785-7726Ronaldo Bellazzini20https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2469-7063Alessandro Brez21https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9460-1821Luca Latronico22https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0984-1856Leonardo Lucchesi23https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5916-8014Alberto Manfreda24https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0998-4953Massimo Minuti25https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9577-2588Leonardo Orsini26https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3446-8969Michele Pinchera27https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0455-2358Carmelo Sgrò28https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5676-6214Gloria Spandre29https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0802-3453NASA Marshall Space Flight Center , Huntsville, Al 35812, USANASA Marshall Space Flight Center , Huntsville, Al 35812, USANASA Marshall Space Flight Center , Huntsville, Al 35812, USANASA Marshall Space Flight Center , Huntsville, Al 35812, USANASA Marshall Space Flight Center , Huntsville, Al 35812, USANASA Marshall Space Flight Center , Huntsville, Al 35812, USANASA Marshall Space Flight Center , Huntsville, Al 35812, USANASA Marshall Space Flight Center , Huntsville, Al 35812, USANASA Marshall Space Flight Center , Huntsville, Al 35812, USAINAF-Instituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali , Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Rome, ItalyINAF-Instituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali , Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Rome, ItalyINAF-Instituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali , Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Rome, ItalyINAF-Instituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali , Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Rome, ItalyINAF-Instituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali , Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Rome, ItalyINAF-Instituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali , Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Rome, ItalyINAF-Instituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali , Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Rome, ItalyINAF-Osservatorio Astronomico Di Brera , Via E.Bianchi 46, 23807 Merate (Lc), ItalyINAF-Instituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali , Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Rome, ItalyINAF-Osservatorio Astronomico Di Cagliari , Via dela Scienza 5, 09047 Selargius, ItalyINFN–Sezione di Pisa , Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, 56127 Pisa, ItalyINFN–Sezione di Pisa , Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, 56127 Pisa, ItalyINFN–Sezione di Pisa , Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, 56127 Pisa, ItalyINFN–Sezione di Torino , Via Pietro Giuria 1, 10125 Torino, ItalyINFN–Sezione di Pisa , Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, 56127 Pisa, ItalyINFN–Sezione di Napoli , via Cinthia, 80126 Napoli, ItalyINFN–Sezione di Pisa , Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, 56127 Pisa, ItalyINFN–Sezione di Pisa , Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, 56127 Pisa, ItalyINFN–Sezione di Pisa , Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, 56127 Pisa, ItalyINFN–Sezione di Pisa , Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, 56127 Pisa, ItalyINFN–Sezione di Pisa , Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, 56127 Pisa, ItalyFifty years after the very first sounding rocket measurement of cosmic X-ray polarization, the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission has effectively opened a new window into the X-ray sky. Prior to launch of IXPE, an extensive calibration campaign was carried out to fully characterize the response of this new type of instrument. Specifically, the polarization-sensitive detectors were intensively calibrated in Italy, where they were developed and built. The X-ray optics, which collect and focus X-rays onto the detectors, were built and calibrated in the USA. A key question was whether the telescope (optics + detectors) calibrations could be synthesized from the individual component calibrations, avoiding time consuming and costly end-to-end calibrations for a flight program with a fixed schedule. The data presented here are from a calibration of the flight spare telescope utilizing the flight spare detector and flight spare mirror assembly combined. These data show that the presence of the mirror module does not affect the polarization response of the detectors (within the required calibration accuracy) and that the angular resolution of the telescopes could be accurately determined. Thus, the original extensive stand-alone ground calibration data of all the flight detectors and all the flight optic can be utilized in full to derive the flight telescopes calibrations.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/add327X-ray observatoriesCalibrationAstronomical techniquesFlux calibration |
| spellingShingle | Brian D. Ramsey Jeffery K. Kolodziejczak Wayne H. Baumgartner Nicholas E. Thomas Stephen D. Bongiorno Philip Kaaret Stephen L. O’Dell Allyn Tennant Martin C. Weisskopf Sergio Fabiani Fabio Muleri Paolo Soffitta Enrico Costa Alessandro Di Marco Riccardo Ferrazzoli Fabio La Monaca John Rankin Ajay Ratheesh Alessio Trois Luca Baldini Ronaldo Bellazzini Alessandro Brez Luca Latronico Leonardo Lucchesi Alberto Manfreda Massimo Minuti Leonardo Orsini Michele Pinchera Carmelo Sgrò Gloria Spandre The Telescope Calibration of the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer The Astronomical Journal X-ray observatories Calibration Astronomical techniques Flux calibration |
| title | The Telescope Calibration of the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer |
| title_full | The Telescope Calibration of the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer |
| title_fullStr | The Telescope Calibration of the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Telescope Calibration of the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer |
| title_short | The Telescope Calibration of the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer |
| title_sort | telescope calibration of the imaging x ray polarimetry explorer |
| topic | X-ray observatories Calibration Astronomical techniques Flux calibration |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/add327 |
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