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Re-testing the JET-X Flight Module No. 2 at the PANTER facility

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Abstract

The Joint European X-ray Telescope (JET-X) was the core instrument of the Russian Spectrum-X- γ space observatory. It consisted of two identical soft X-ray (0.3–10 keV) telescopes with focusing optical modules having a measured angular resolution of nearly 15 arcsec. Soon after the payload completion, the mission was cancelled and the two optical flight modules (FM) were brought to the Brera Astronomical Observatory where they had been manufactured. After 16 years of storage, we have utilized the JET-X FM2 to test at the PANTER X-ray facility a prototype of a novel X-ray polarimetric telescope, using a Gas Pixel Detector (GPD) with polarimetric capabilities in the focal plane of the FM2. The GPD was developed by a collaboration between INFN-Pisa and INAF-IAPS. In the first phase of the test campaign, we have re-tested the FM2 at PANTER to have an up-to-date characterization in terms of angular resolution and effective area, while in the second part of the test the GPD has been placed in the focal plane of the FM2. In this paper we report the results of the tests of the sole FM2, using an unpolarized X-ray source, comparing the results with the calibration done in 1996.

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Acknowledgments

The JET-X Flight Modules development and this study are financed by ASI (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INAF / Brera Astronomical Observatory, Via Bianchi 46, 23807, Merate, Italy

    Daniele Spiga, Gianpiero Tagliaferri, Oberto Citterio, Stefano Basso, Wolfgang Burkert & Giovanni Pareschi

  2. INAF/Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology, via Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133, Roma, Italy

    Paolo Soffitta, Enrico Costa, Ettore Del Monte, Sergio Fabiani, Fabio Muleri & Alda Rubini

  3. INFN Sezione di Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo, 3-56127, Pisa, Italy

    Ronaldo Bellazzini, Alessandro Brez, Luca de Ruvo, Massimo Minuti, Michele Pinchera, Carmelo Sgrò & Gloria Spandre

  4. Max-Planck-Institüt für extraterrestrische Physik, Gieβenbachstraβe 1, 85748, Garching, Germany

    Vadim Burwitz, Gisela Hartner & Benedikt Menz

Authors
  1. Daniele Spiga
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  2. Gianpiero Tagliaferri
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  9. Vadim Burwitz
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  10. Enrico Costa
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  12. Ettore Del Monte
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  13. Sergio Fabiani
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  14. Gisela Hartner
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  15. Benedikt Menz
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  17. Fabio Muleri
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  18. Giovanni Pareschi
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  20. Alda Rubini
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Correspondence to Daniele Spiga.

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Spiga, D., Tagliaferri, G., Soffitta, P. et al. Re-testing the JET-X Flight Module No. 2 at the PANTER facility. Exp Astron 37, 37–53 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-013-9365-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-013-9365-y

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