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XMM-Newton releases the largest catalogue of X-ray sources

7 September 2007

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An assembly of 51 mirrors, carefully sized, formed and nested one inside another, makes XMM-Newton the most sensitive X-ray telescope ever built. ESA's XMM-Newton derives its name from its X-ray multi-mirror design and honours Sir Isaac Newton. This unique X-ray observatory was launched by Ariane 5 from the European spaceport in French Guiana on 10 December 1999.

Credits: ESA

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The 2XMM Serendipitous EPIC Source Catalogue is the result of several years of development by the XMM-Newton Survey Science Centre (SSC), a consortium of institutes spread across Europe, on behalf of ESA.

In the study of energetic phenomena in the Universe, ranging from nearby comets to the most distant active galaxies, such a catalogue provides an unparalleled, invaluable new resource of information. The catalogue contains 247 000 X-ray source detections which relate to 192 000 unique X-ray sources, making it the largest collection of objects ever observed in the X-ray region of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Covering 360 square degrees of the sky, 2XMM complements deeper Chandra and XMM-Newton small area studies and covers astronomical objects that dominate the X-ray background spread across the Universe.

Credits: University of Leicester (M. Watson)

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