24 December 1996 Dear BeppoSAX user, this is the third BeppoSAX "e-mail news" message and covers the following topics: 1. First release of BeppoSAX analysis software; 2. First release of BeppoSAX calibration data; 3. Crab data available on-line (to be used for software familiarization); 4. Documentation update; 5. First FOTs delivered to the BeppoSAX PI's; 6. Satellite status. Paolo Giommi & Fabrizio Fiore BeppoSAX Science Data Center 1. First release of BeppoSAX analysis software - ---------------------------------------------- The first release of the analysis software is forseen for December 31st 1996. The status as of today is the following: the SAXDAS software package version 1.0.0 is available from our anonymous ftp service ftp www.sdc.asi.it Name : anonymous cd /pub/sax/software/saxdas bin get SAXDAS_1.0.0.tar.gz the WFC software package version 0.40.0.30 is available from our anonymous ftp service ftp www.sdc.asi.it Name : anonymous cd /pub/sax/software/wfc bin get wfc_full-040.030.tar.gz the XAS software packege will be on-line (from our anonymous ftp) within January 15th 1997. 2. First release of BeppoSAX calibration data - --------------------------------------------- The first release of the BeppoSAX calbration data consists of: a) a set of files used by the software packages. For SAXDAS these files can be retrived from our anonymous ftp service ftp www.sdc.asi.it Name : anonymous cd pub/sax/software/saxdas bin get SAXLEcaldb_1.3.0.tar.gz get SAXMEcaldb_1.2.0.tar.gz For XAS and WFC these files are already included in the software package. b) the latest version of the response matrix for each BeppoSAX instrument. The matrices are available for our anonymous ftp service ftp www.sdc.asi.it Name : anonymous cd pub/sax/cal/responses/97_1 bin mget *.arf mget *.rmf.gz mget *.rsp.gz 3. Crab data available on-line (to be used for software familiarization) - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To help our users in familiarising with the BeppoSAX reduction software, data from a short observation of the Crab nebula have been made publicly available. These data can be retrieved from our WEB service at the following URL http://www.sdc.asi.it/crab_data/ Whoever retrieves these files imlicitly agrees that no scientific use of these observations can be made before they are included in the BeppoSAX public archive scheduled to open on January 1998. 4. Documentation update - ----------------------- Detailed documentation about the first BeppoSAX software and calibration release can be found at http://www.sdc.asi.it/software/ Please note that these pages are currently being completed and that a stable situation will be achieved around mid January 1997. A cookbook is also being prepared. A preliminary version can be accessed at http://www.sdc.asi.it/software/cookbook/ 5. First FOTs delivered to the BeppoSAX PI's - -------------------------------------------- The first BeppoSAX FOT's are being delivered starting from December 20. The problems that hampered an earlier release (accurate attitude reconstruction and presence of spurious data) have now been largely solved. 6. Satellite status - ------------------- After suffering some problems with the Attitude Control Computer the BeppoSAX satellite has now returned to normal routine operations. Observations of the Core Program and Guest Observers program are therefore progressing as planned. For updated information about the satellite status please refer to our web pages, in particular http://www.sdc.asi.it/latestnews.html ------------------BeppoSAX SDC useful addresses and numbers---------------- WWW home page http://www.sdc.asi.it/ anonymous ftp www.sdc.asi.it phone +39 6 40796307 (M.E. Pennisi, SDC secretary) fax +39 6 40793855, +39 6 40796291 e-mail helpdesk@sax.sdc.asi.it p-mail address BeppoSAX Science Data Center ASI c/o Nuova Telespazio via Corcolle 19 00131 Roma Italy how to reach us http://www.sdc.asi.it/howreach.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------