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Ground-based x-ray calibration of the Astro-H/Hitomi soft x-ray telescopes
Maeda, Yoshitomo; Ishida, Manabu; Okajima, Takashi +10 more
We present the summary of the on-ground calibration of two soft x-ray telescopes (SXT-I and SXT-S), developed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), onboard Astro-H/Hitomi. After the initial x-ray measurements with a diverging beam at the GSFC 100-m beamline, we performed the full calibration of the x-ray performance, using the 30-m x-ray b…
Inorbit performance of the Hard X-ray Telescope (HXT) on board the Hitomi (ASTRO-H) satellite
Maeda, Yoshitomo; Ishida, Manabu; Kunieda, Hideyo +16 more
Hitomi (ASTRO-H) carries two Hard X-ray Telescopes (HXTs), which can focus x-rays up to 80 keV. Combined with the hard x-ray imagers (HXIs) that detect the focused x-rays, imaging spectroscopy in the high-energy band from 5 to 80 keV is made possible. We studied characteristics of HXTs after the launch, such as the encircled energy function (EEF) …
Astro-H/Hitomi data analysis, processing, and archive
Miller, Eric D.; Yaqoob, Tahir; Terada, Yukikatsu +14 more
Astro-H is the x-ray/gamma-ray mission led by Japan with international participation, launched on February 17, 2016. Soon after launch, Astro-H was renamed Hitomi. The payload consists of four different instruments (SXS, SXI, HXI, and SGD) that operate simultaneously to cover the energy range from 0.3 keV up to 600 keV. On March 27, 2016, JAXA los…
Calibration sources and filters of the soft x-ray spectrometer instrument on the Hitomi spacecraft
Tsujimoto, Masahiro; Eckart, Megan E.; Leutenegger, Maurice A. +17 more
The soft x-ray spectrometer was designed to operate onboard the Japanese Hitomi (ASTRO-H) satellite. In the beam of this instrument, there was a filter wheel containing x-ray filters and active calibration sources. This paper describes this filter wheel. We show the purpose of the filters and the preflight calibrations performed. In addition, we p…
In-orbit operation of the soft x-ray spectrometer onboard the Hitomi satellite
Tsujimoto, Masahiro; Okajima, Takashi; Eckart, Megan E. +35 more
We summarize all of the in-orbit operations of the soft x-ray spectrometer (SXS) onboard the ASTRO-H (Hitomi) satellite. The satellite was launched on February 17, 2016, and the communication with the satellite ceased on March 26, 2016. The SXS was still in the commissioning phase, in which the set-ups were progressively changed. This paper is int…
Design and performance of Soft Gamma-ray Detector onboard the Hitomi (ASTRO-H) satellite
Enoto, Teruaki; Yamaoka, Kazutaka; Fukazawa, Yasushi +39 more
Hitomi (ASTRO-H) was the sixth Japanese x-ray satellite that carried instruments with exquisite energy resolution of <7 eV and broad energy coverage of 0.3 to 600 keV. The Soft Gamma-ray Detector (SGD) was the Hitomi instrument that observed the highest energy band (60 to 600 keV). The SGD design achieves a low background level by combining act…
In-flight performance of pulse-processing system of the ASTRO-H/Hitomi soft x-ray spectrometer
Tsujimoto, Masahiro; Eckart, Megan E.; Leutenegger, Maurice A. +15 more
We summarize results of the initial in-orbit performance of the pulse shape processor (PSP) of the soft x-ray spectrometer instrument onboard ASTRO-H (Hitomi). Event formats, kind of telemetry, and the pulse-processing parameters are described, and the parameter settings in orbit are listed. The PSP was powered-on 2 days after launch, and the even…
In-flight performance of the soft x-ray spectrometer detector system on Astro-H
Tsujimoto, Masahiro; Eckart, Megan E.; Leutenegger, Maurice A. +17 more
The soft x-ray spectrometer (SXS) instrument was launched aboard the Astro-H (Hitomi) observatory on February 17, 2016. The SXS is based on a high-sensitivity x-ray calorimeter detector system that has been successfully deployed in many ground and suborbital spectrometers. The instrument was to provide essential diagnostics for nearly every class …
In-flight verification of the calibration and performance of the ASTRO-H (Hitomi) Soft X-ray Spectrometer
Maeda, Yoshitomo; Ishida, Manabu; Petre, Robert +43 more
The Soft X-ray Spectrometer onboard the Astro-H (Hitomi) orbiting x-ray observatory featured an array of 36 silicon thermistor x-ray calorimeters optimized to perform high spectral resolution x-ray imaging spectroscopy of astrophysical sources in the 0.3- to 12-keV band. Extensive preflight calibration measurements are the basis for our modeling o…
In-orbit performance and calibration of the Hard X-ray Imager onboard Hitomi (ASTRO-H)
Enoto, Teruaki; Yamaoka, Kazutaka; Fukazawa, Yasushi +38 more
The Hard X-ray Imager (HXI) onboard Hitomi (ASTRO-H) is an imaging spectrometer covering hard x-ray energies of 5 to 80 keV. Combined with the Hard X-ray Telescope, it enables imaging spectroscopy with an angular resolution of 1‧.7 half-power diameter, in a field of view of 9‧ × 9‧. The main imager is composed of f…