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EXOSAT ME Spectra and Lightcurves

Metadata Updated: January 16, 2026

The EXOSAT Medium Energy experiment (ME) was an array of eight proportional counters with a total geometric area of 1600 cm<sup>2</sup>. The field of view was square and 0.75 degrees x 0.75 degrees FWHM on each side. Each proportional counter consisted of an argon chamber on top of a xenon chamber separated by a 1.5 mm beryllium window. The fractional energy resolution, dE/E, was 21(E/6 keV)<sup>-0.5</sup> percent FWHM for the argon chambers. The output from each chamber was pulse height analyzed into 128 channels with the argon chambers sensitive from 1-20 keV and the xenon from 5-50 keV. To optimize the background subtraction, each half of the detector array was alternately offset to a source-free region of sky to monitor the particle background. Only results from the argon detectors are included in the EXOSAT ME database. The high count rates given by the ME required OBC (on board computer) programs to compress the data prior to their being telemetered. Depending on the objective of the observation the OBC programs traded time resolution against spectral information. Depending on the telemetry load, and the OBC programs running for the other two experiments, two or three ME programs could be run simultaneously. The spectral orientated programs gave spectra plus intensity profiles. The timing programs gave purely intensity profile data with in some cases selectable channels. The highest time resolution possible for a single selectable energy band was 0.2 ms. The products available within this database has been created using the data sampled by the spectral orientated OBC programs. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date April 11, 2025
Metadata Updated Date January 16, 2026

Metadata Source

Harvested from NASA Data.json

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date April 11, 2025
Metadata Updated Date January 16, 2026
Publisher High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center
Maintainer
Identifier ivo://nasa.heasarc/me
Data Last Modified 2026-01-13
Category Astrophysics
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 026:00
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 904884fd-fcb0-4a0e-b7b3-29dffce678a0
Harvest Source Id 58f92550-7a01-4f00-b1b2-8dc953bd598f
Harvest Source Title NASA Data.json
Homepage URL https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/W3Browse/all/me.html
Program Code 026:000
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash f60acfa112a3299594021480439bd98e8f7d30b4348e2a026e67896f8b8cd8e4
Source Schema Version 1.1

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