All NuSTAR CALDB release notes
------------------------------
NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20130509
Release Type: Full CALDB release.
Download Location: ftp://hassif.srl.caltech.edu/pub/nustar/pipeline/20130509/CALDB_20130509.tgz
Updated CALDB File(s):
The CALDB release contains files for two CALDB patches:
20130509 patch:
fpm/caldb.indx
fpm/index/caldb.indx20130509
fpm/bcf/arf/nuA20100101v005.arf
fpm/bcf/arf/nuB20100101v005.arf
fpm/bcf/vign/nuAvign20100101v005.fits
fpm/bcf/vign/nuBvign20100101v005.fits
fpm/bcf/detabs/nuAdetabs20100101v001.fits
fpm/bcf/detabs/nuBdetabs20100101v001.fits
fpm/bcf/detabs/nuAdetabs20100101v002.fits
fpm/bcf/detabs/nuBdetabs20100101v002.fits
20130423 patch:
fpm/index/caldb.indx20130423
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuCmkfconf20100101v005.fits
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuAhkrange01_20100101v006.fits
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuBhkrange01_20100101v006.fits
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuBhkrange06_20100101v004.fits
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuBhkrange05_20100101v004.fits
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuBhkrange04_20100101v004.fits
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuBhkrange03_20100101v004.fits
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuBhkrange02_20100101v004.fits
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuAhkrange06_20100101v004.fits
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuAhkrange05_20100101v004.fits
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuAhkrange04_20100101v004.fits
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuAhkrange03_20100101v004.fits
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuAhkrange02_20100101v004.fits
fpm/bcf/detabs/nuAdetabs20100101v001.fits
fpm/bcf/detabs/nuBdetabs20100101v001.fits
fpm/cpf/rmf/nuAnocutdet3_20100101v002.rmf
fpm/cpf/rmf/nuAcutdet3_20100101v002.rmf
fpm/cpf/rmf/nuAnocutgrprmf20100101v002.fits
fpm/cpf/rmf/nuAcutgrprmf20100101v002.fits
Summary of changes:
ARF:
The ARF files were updated to be used with the latest version of the pipeline, which applies
various time-dependent corrections that had previously been implemented as "average" corrections
in the ARF.
VIGN:
The vignetting files were updated to include the "Crab corrections". There will be a memo drafted
detailing these corrections; at present there is a powerpoint presentation available via Huddle
(interface with Brian Grefenstette) that describes the vignetting corrections and performance.
DETABS:
The detabs CALDB fils are included to allow for the NuSTAR ARF generation FTOOL to account for
absorption at the detector plane. This previously was done by the user via the "nuabs" XSPEC
local model. With the inclusion of the detabs CALDB files and the additional modules in the
ARF generator, nuabs is no longer required by the user. The nu*detabs*002 files in the
20130509 patch are improvements on the nu*detabs*001 files contained in the 20130423 patch.
RMF Updates:
RMF:
Improved depth cut performance in FPMA Det 3 based on observations of the Crab. The RMF now more
accurately reproduces the observed Crab spectrum in both depth-cut and non-depth-cut cases.
INSTRUMENT:
Introduced a cut on all modes where the PSD sensors are out of calibration range "METGRID_FLAG".
HK Range files were updated to filter out events with METGRID_FLAG=1.
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20131007
The CALDB patch contains the following files:
fpm/caldb.indx
fpm/index/caldb.indx20131007
fpm/bcf/arf/nuA20100101v006.arf
fpm/bcf/arf/nuB20100101v006.arf
fpm/bcf/instrmap/nuAinstrprobmap20100101v001.fits
fpm/bcf/instrmap/nuBinstrprobmap20100101v001.fits
fpm/bcf/instrmap/nuAinstrmap20100101v004.fits
fpm/bcf/instrmap/nuBinstrmap20100101v004.fits
fpm/bcf/pixpos/nuApixpos20100101v007.fits
fpm/bcf/pixpos/nuBpixpos20100101v007.fits
fpm/bcf/psf/nuAgrppsf20100101v001.fits
fpm/bcf/psf/nuBgrppsf20100101v001.fits
fpm/bcf/psf/nuA2dpsfen2_20100101v001.fits
fpm/bcf/psf/nuA2dpsfen1_20100101v001.fits
fpm/bcf/psf/nuA2dpsfen3_20100101v001.fits
fpm/bcf/psf/nuA2dpsfen5_20100101v001.fits
fpm/bcf/psf/nuA2dpsfen4_20100101v001.fits
fpm/bcf/psf/nuB2dpsfen1_20100101v001.fits
fpm/bcf/psf/nuA2dpsfen6_20100101v001.fits
fpm/bcf/psf/nuB2dpsfen3_20100101v001.fits
fpm/bcf/psf/nuB2dpsfen2_20100101v001.fits
fpm/bcf/psf/nuB2dpsfen4_20100101v001.fits
fpm/bcf/psf/nuB2dpsfen6_20100101v001.fits
fpm/bcf/psf/nuB2dpsfen5_20100101v001.fits
fpm/bcf/clock/nuCclock20100101v019.fits
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuBhkrange01_20100101v007.fits
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuAhkrange01_20100101v007.fits
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuBhkrange06_20100101v005.fits
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuBhkrange05_20100101v005.fits
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuBhkrange04_20100101v005.fits
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuBhkrange03_20100101v005.fits
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuBhkrange02_20100101v005.fits
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuAhkrange06_20100101v005.fits
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuAhkrange05_20100101v005.fits
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuAhkrange04_20100101v005.fits
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuAhkrange03_20100101v005.fits
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuAhkrange02_20100101v005.fits
Summary of changes:
ARF:
The NuSTAR ARF has been adjusted to match observations from soft X-ray
observatories (XMM/Swift XRT/Chandra). The new ARFs contain an energy
independent increase in the effective area, resulting in fluxes that
decrease by about 15%.
INSTRMAP:
The instrmap files were updated and a new "probmap" file was included. These
changes were made to support the improved exposure map algorithm in the latest
version of the nupipeline nuexpomap task.
PIXPOS:
Adjusted the PDF for high grades for pixels near the outer edge of the detectors
that had noisy (poor quality) calibration data to have the "Grade 0" PDF.
PSF:
An energy-dependent PSF was included based on observations of bright X-ray point
sources. This energy-dependent PSF is used by the numkarf task and accounts for the
increased scattering of low-energy (<10 keV) photons. This effect is small (on the order
of 5%) and will only be seen for sources with high SNR and when small (<30 arcesecond radius)
extraction regions are used.
CLOCK:
The clock file has been brought up-to-date and now supports all observations up to
2013-07-06.
INSTRUMENT:
The hkrange files have been updated to allow for the pipeline to be run when the instrument
metrology system is out of range.
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version:
20131223
Release Type: CALDB patch.
Pre-requisite: NuSTAR CALDB Release 20131007
The CALDB patch contains the following files:
fpm/caldb.indx
fpm/index/caldb.indx20131223
fpm/bcf/vign/nuAvign20100101v006.fits
fpm/bcf/vign/nuBvign20100101v006.fits
Summary of changes:
VIGN:
The NuSTAR vignetting files have been adjusted to improve the fidelity
of the response files near absorption edges caused by W (at 69.5 keV)
in the X-ray optics. The response files are now valid up to 78 keV,
where absorption due to Pt (nominally at 78.4 keV) dominates the response
of the optics. It is recommended that users restrict fitting ranges
to below 78 keV, if possible, to prevent known systematic errors in
the ARF from contributing to continuum fits.
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Release 20140414
Summary of changes:
CLC:
The NuSTAR CLC files have been adjusted to improve the gain calibration
for all pixels and grade combinations. Corrections vary grade-by-grade,
but in general the absolute energy scale shifts by less than ~80eV and
the gain shifts by less than 0.02%.
The only noticeable change to science users should be for DET2 on FPMA,
where the previous CLC files produced poor gain calibration for different.
As this is opposite to the nominal optical axis position we do not expect
many science users to be affected by this change.
After all of the calibration corrections have been applied, the residual
error in the absolute energy scale is typically 10 to 20 eV for all
grade combinations (less than half a NuSTAR PI channel width), while
the gains are typically accurate to a statistical uncertainty of
one part in 100,000. The one exception is for DET2 on FPMA, which
appears to have small non-linearity in the gain response at high
(>80 keV) energies while the energy response across the NuSTAR science
band (3 - 79 keV) appears to be consistent with the other detectors.
Clock:
This version of the clock file contains all clock corrections during the mission up
to 2014-07-01 (v36 of the clock correction file) and is required when using
barycorr to correct the arrival times of the individual photons.
This file can be used for all observations prior to 2014-07-01
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Release 20140715
Summary of changes:
Clock:
This version of the clock file contains all clock corrections during the mission up
to 2014-07-15 (v37 of the clock correction file) and is required when using
barycorr to correct the arrival times of the individual photons.
This file can be used for all observations prior to 2014-07-15
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Release 20140814
Summary of changes:
Clock:
The clock file keeps the NuSTAR relative time (after barycentric corrections)
accurate to ~2 ms and accounts for drifts in the NuSTAR clock caused by
temperature variations, etc. New clock files will be produced as the mission
continues on a ~monthly basis.
added file
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/Clockfile/nuCclock20100101v038.fits
This version of the clock file contains all clock corrections during the mission
up to 2014-08-14 (v38 of the clock correction file) and is required when using
barycorr to correct the arrival times of the individual photons. This file can
be used for all observations prior to 2014-08-14.
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Release 20140917
Summary of changes:
Clock:
The clock file keeps the NuSTAR relative time (after barycentric corrections)
accurate to ~2 ms and accounts for drifts in the NuSTAR clock caused by
temperature variations, etc. New clock files will be produced as the mission
continues on a ~monthly basis.
added file
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/Clockfile/nuCclock20100101v039.fits
This version of the clock file contains all clock corrections during the mission
up to 2014-07-17 (v39 of the clock correction file) and is required when using
barycorr to correct the arrival times of the individual photons. This file can
be used for all observations prior to 2014-09-17.
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Release 20141014
Summary of changes:
Clock:
The clock file keeps the NuSTAR relative time (after barycentric corrections)
accurate to ~2 ms and accounts for drifts in the NuSTAR clock caused by
temperature variations, etc. New clock files will be produced as the mission
continues on a ~monthly basis.
added file
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/Clockfile/nuCclock20100101v040.fits
This version of the clock file contains all clock corrections during the mission
up to 2014-10-09 (v40 of the clock correction file) and is required when using
barycorr to correct the arrival times of the individual photons. This file can
be used for all observations prior to 2014-10-09.
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Release 20141020
Summary of changes:
Clock:
The clock file keeps the NuSTAR relative time (after barycentric corrections)
accurate to ~2 ms and accounts for drifts in the NuSTAR clock caused by
temperature variations, etc. New clock files will be produced as the mission
continues on a ~monthly basis.
added file
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/Clockfile/nuCclock20100101v041.fits
This version of the clock file contains all clock corrections during the mission
up to 2014-10-20 (v41 of the clock correction file) and is required when using
barycorr to correct the arrival times of the individual photons. This file can
be used for all observations prior to 2014-10-20.
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Release 20141107
Summary of changes:
Clock:
The clock file keeps the NuSTAR relative time (after barycentric corrections)
accurate to ~2 ms and accounts for drifts in the NuSTAR clock caused by
temperature variations, etc. New clock files will be produced as the mission
continues on a ~monthly basis.
added file
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/Clockfile/nuCclock20100101v042.fits
This version of the clock file contains all clock corrections during the mission
up to 2014-11-07 (v42 of the clock correction file) and is required when using
barycorr to correct the arrival times of the individual photons. This file can
be used for all observations prior to 2014-11-07.
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Release 20150114
Summary of changes:
Clock:
The clock file keeps the NuSTAR relative time (after barycentric corrections)
accurate to ~2 ms and accounts for drifts in the NuSTAR clock caused by
temperature variations, etc. New clock files will be produced as the mission
continues on a ~monthly basis.
added file
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/Clockfile/nuCclock20100101v043.fits
This version of the clock file contains all clock corrections during the mission
up to 2015-01-14 (v43 of the clock correction file) and is required when using
barycorr to correct the arrival times of the individual photons. This file can
be used for all observations prior to 2015-01-14.
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Release 20150123
Summary of changes:
Clock:
The clock file keeps the NuSTAR relative time (after barycentric corrections)
accurate to ~2 ms and accounts for drifts in the NuSTAR clock caused by
temperature variations, etc. New clock files will be produced as the mission
continues on a ~monthly basis.
added file
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/Clockfile/nuCclock20100101v044.fits
This version of the clock file contains all clock corrections during the mission
up to 2015-01-23 (v44 of the clock correction file) and is required when using
barycorr to correct the arrival times of the individual photons. This file can
be used for all observations prior to 2015-01-23.
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Release 20150316
Summary of changes:
CLC:
The NuSTAR CLC files have been adjusted to improve the gain calibration for all pixels and grade combinations over the entire mission.
Corrections vary grade-by-grade, but in general the absolute energy scale shifts by less than ~80eV and the gain shifts by less than 0.1% in
most cases. This improves on the calibration done on 2014/04 and delivered in the CALDB 20140414.
GAIN:
A gain decrease of roughly 0.2% per year (shifting the energy of photons to lower energy) has been observed in the NuSTAR data. We have
introduced a time-dependent correction in the energy calibration to account for this drift.
As always, we recommend that all users re-process their data with the new calibration files to obtain the most accurate results.
For users who have downloaded the Level 2 (calibrated and cleaned) event data via the HEASARC, we recommend checking the �CALDBVER� keyword
in the FITS file header. If the CALDBVER listed is earlier then 20150316 then we recommend reprocessing the data with the latest calibration
files.
We expect that the changes to the calibration to only be apparent for observations obtained after mid-to-late 2013 and that also have high
signal-to-noise or for analyses where the data are being jointly fit with a soft X-ray instrument (Chandra/Suzaku/Swift/XMM).
We recommend quoting a systematic uncertainty of 40 eV in the absolute energy scale when performing line centroid fits at low energy, and a
systematic uncertainty of 60 eV at for line energies around 68 keV. This uncertainty should be quoted in addition to the statistical errors
(e.g. not added in quadrature with statistical errors) for clarity.
A memo describing the calibration analysis and the systematic errors can be found here:
http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/caldb/nustar/docs/fpm/index.html
CLOCK:
The latest version of the clock file contains all corrections during the mission up to 2015-03-13 and is required when using barycorr to
correct the arrival times of the individual photons.
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Release 20150526
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
The latest version of the clock file contains all corrections during the mission up to 2015-05-26 and is required when using barycorr to
correct the arrival times of the individual photons. Performance continues to be mostly good (residuals < 2 msec, ~2 sigma) although there are single discontinuities in the timing offsets over the last month around day 1945 and 1949 (residuals are still small).
The clock file is also available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
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Release 20150612
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 49, is available. This file is up to date through 2015-06-12, compared to 2015-05-26 in the previous version.
Performance continues to be mostly good (residuals < 2 msec, ~2 sigma).
The clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
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Release 20150702
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 50, is available. This file is up to date through 2015-07-02, compared to 2015-06-12 in the previous version.
Performance continues to be mostly good (residuals < 2 msec, ~2 sigma), though there are some residuals around discontinuities on mission days 1989 and 2003.
The clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
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Release 20150904
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 51, is available. This file is up to date through 2015-09-04, compared to 2015-07-02 in the previous version. Performance continues to be mostly good (residuals < 2 msec, ~2 sigma).
The clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
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Release 20151008
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 52, is available. This file is up to date through 2015-10-08
The clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
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Release 20160222
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 55, is available. This file is up to date through 2016-02-22
The clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
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Release 20160325
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 56, is available. This file is up to date through 2016-03-25
The clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
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Release 20160421
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 57, is available. This file is up to date through 2016-04-21
The clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
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Patch Release 20160502
(corresponds to internal NuSTAR project release 20160315)
Summary of changes:
NuSTAR CALDB Release NuSTAR Project Version: 20160315
Release Type: CALDB patch.
Pre-requisite: NuSTAR CALDB Release 201500316 and NuSTARDAS v1.6.0
Note that this version of the CALDB is ONLY compatible with NuSTARDAS v1.6.0 and later.
Download location for the patch and the associated unit test tarball is here:
ftp://hassif.srl.caltech.edu/pub/nustar/pipeline/20160502/
The CALDB tarball contains the following files:
fpm/caldb.indx
fpm/index/caldb.indx20160315
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuCchu123range20100101v001.fits
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuCsaapar20100101v002.fits
fpm/bcf/clock/nuCclock20100101v057.fits
Summary of changes:
CHU123RANGE:
v001
This is a new CALDB file that defines how the CHU combinations are split using the nusplitsc FTOOL.
SAAPAR:
This is an update to the 001 data file that includes new parameters used by the pipeline for filtering out high background periods near the SAA. Note that the 002 CALDB file requires pipeline versions of 1.6.0 or later.
Clock:
The latest version of the clock file contains all corrections during the mission up to 2016-04-21. The latest clockfile can always be found at:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20160606
Release Type: CALDB patch.
Pre-requisite: NuSTAR CALDB Release 20160502 and NuSTARDAS v1.6.0 or later
The CALDB tarball contains the following files:
fpm/caldb.indx
fpm/index/caldb.indx20160606
fpm/bcf/detabs/nuAdetabs20100101v003.fits
fpm/bcf/detabs/nuBdetabs20100101v003.fits
fpm/bcf/vign/nuAvign20100101v007.fits
fpm/bcf/vign/nuBvign20100101v007.fits
fpm/bcf/gain/nuAgain20100101v007.fits
fpm/bcf/gain/nuBgain20100101v007.fits
It can be downloaded via the FTP link:
ftp://hassif.caltech.edu/pub/nustar/pipeline/20160606/NUSTARCALDB_patch20160606.tgz
Summary of changes:
In this CALDB release we have updated the CALDB files describing the detector gain, the optics effective area, and the absorption along the photon path in the instrument.
We recommend that any data processed with a CALDB version earlier than 20160502 be reprocessed and re-analayzed with the new calibration data.
GAIN, v007:
The longer mission baseline has allowed a more accurate calibration of the time-dependent detector gain and offset over the livetime of the mission, resulting in the updated v007 version of the detector gain CALDB files.
DETABS, v003:
We have re-measured the detector absorption thicknesses of CdZnTe and Pt which affect the low energy effective area of the instrument. The new absorption values are given in the v003 detabs files. The details of this analysis are given in Madsen et al. (2016), which is current in prep. A preprint can be found under the “Technical Publications” section on the NuSTAR website here:
http://www.nustar.caltech.edu/page/technical-pubs
VIGN, v007:
The updates to the gain and detector absorption CALDB files required us to recompute the optics calibration against the Crab as described in Madsen et al. (2015) (http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0067-0049/220/1/8).
The changes represent our current best assessment of the instrument calibration over the mission lifetime, and may result in differences from previous CALDB releases between 3 - 4.5 keV on the order of a few percent.
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Release 20160706
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 59, is available. This file is up to date through 2016-07-06
The clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
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Release 20160731
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 60, is available. This file is up to date through 2016-07-31
The clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
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Release 20160824
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 61, is available. This file is up to date through 2016-08-24
The clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
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Release 20160922
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 62, is available. This file is up to date through 2016-09-22, compared to 2016-08-24 in the previous version. Performance is OK (residuals mostly within < 2 sec, ~2 sigma, see attached plot). However there are three dates where residuals are poor due to spikes in the clock correction values:
2443 = 2016:253 = 2016-09-09 0000 hrs +/- 12 hrs (1)
2452 = 2016:262 = 2016-09-18 0000 hrs +/- 12 hrs (2)
2454.5 = 2016:264 = 2016-09-20 1200 hrs +/- 12 hrs (3)
1) during 60201022002 (IRAS_F05189m2524), 30202004002 (SMC_X1), and 90201036002 (PSR_J2032p4127)
2) during 60201041002 (4U_1344m60)
3) during 90201020002 (COm0d4m0d22)
The clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
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Release 20161021
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 63, is available. This file is up to date through 2016-10-21, compared to 2016-09-22 in the previous version. Performance is OK (residuals mostly within < 2 sec, ~2 sigma, see attached plot). However there are three dates where residuals are poor due to spikes in the clock correction values:
2464 = 2016:274 = 2016-09-30 0000 hrs +/- 12 hrs (1)
2470.3 = 2016:280 = 2016-10-06 0715 hrs +/-12 hrs (2)
2477.7 = 2016:287 = 2016-10-13 1645 hrs +/- 12 hrs (3)
1) during 60201017002 (IC_2497), 80102101002 (GRS_1739m278)
2) during 60111034002 (UDS_MOS034), 60111035001 (UDS_MOS035)
3) during 60111039001 (UDS_MOS039), 60111040001 (UDS_MOS040)
The clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
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Release 20161207
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 66, is available. This file is up to date through 2016-12-07, compared to 2016-10-21 in the previous version (63). This version is the long awaited 'corrected' clock correction file that tracks clock drift by fitting to screened clock data. The input data values are much cleaner and no longer have many un-physical out of family measurements. As a result, the clock correction spline is much smoother and is a significantly improved measure of the on-orbit clock drift.
The versions of the clock correction file from v022 to v063 should not be used and I have removed them from the SOC website (though they will remain in historical versions of the CALDB). I will be contacting PI�s of observations that may have been effected by the use of the old clock correction files and will provide information to be presented on the NuSTAR HEASARC website in the CALDB and analysis pages.
The clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
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Release 20170120
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 68, is available. This file is up to date through 2017-010-20.
The clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
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Release 20170222
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 69, is available. This file is up to date through 2017-02-22.
The clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
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Release 20170419
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 70, is available. This file is up to date through 2017-04-19
The clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
IMPORTANT NOTE - The versions of clock correction files v022 to v063 were found to have unphysical discontinuities in the clock correction. Only versions v066 and later should be used in analysis.
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Release 20170503
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 71, is available. This file is up to date through 2017-05-03
The clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
IMPORTANT NOTE - The versions of clock correction files v022 to v063 were found to have unphysical discontinuities in the clock correction. Only versions v066 and later should be used in analysis.
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Release 20170614
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
NuSTAR clock correction file, version 72, is available. This file is up to date through 2017-06-14, compared to 2017-05-03 in the previous version (71). The latest clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
IMPORTANT NOTE - The versions of clock correction files v022 to v063 were found to have unphysical discontinuities in the clock correction. Only versions v066 and later should be used in analysis.
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Release 20170720
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
NuSTAR clock correction file, version 73, is available. This file is up to date through 2017-07-20, compared to 2017-06-14 in the previous version (72). The latest clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
IMPORTANT NOTE - The versions of clock correction files v022 to v063 were found to have unphysical discontinuities in the clock correction. Only versions v066 and later should be used in analysis.
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Release 20170727
NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20170727
Release Type: CALDB patch.
Pre-requisite: NuSTAR CALDB Release 20170614 or later and NuSTARDAS v1.8.0 or later.
This CALDB patch is a required update for using saamode=3 now available with NuSTARDAS v1.8.0.
The CALDB tarball contains the following files:
fpm/caldb.indx
fpm/index/caldb.indx20170727
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuCsaapar20100101v003.fits
It can be downloaded via this FTP link:
ftp://hassif.caltech.edu/pub/nustar/pipeline/20170727/NUSTARCALDB_patch20170727.tgz
Summary of changes:
In this CALDB release we have updated the CALDB files used for SAA filtering. This includes new keywords in the nuCsaapar20100101v003.fits file that describe the new portions of the orbit that have natural background variations from NuSTAR�s path through the radiation belts. These regions are now excluded from estimating the background fluctuations. Previously these regions could only be described by lines of constant latitude and longitude; now we have more flexibility to determine the regions that should be rejected.
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Release 20170817
NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20170817
Release Type: Clock Correction Update
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
NuSTAR clock correction file, version 74, is available. This file is up to date through 2017-08-17.
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
IMPORTANT NOTE - The versions of clock correction files v022 to v063 were found to have unphysical discontinuities in the clock correction. Only versions v066 and later should be used in analysis.
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Release 20171002
NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20171002
Release Type: Clock Correction Update
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
NuSTAR clock correction file, version 75, is available. This file is up to date through 2017-10-02.
See
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
There are a few days when there are deviations outside the spline fit:
plot_X DOY Date
2796 2017:241 2017-08-29
2801 2017:246 2017-09-03
2811 2017:256 2017-09-13
2817 2017:262 2017-09-19
which may correspond to the recent Solar activity (multiple CME and X-class flares); however there is no clear correlation as these events occurred between DOY 247 to 251 (2802 to 2806 on the plot).
In addition, there was a steady drift between 2821 < X < 2826 when no automatic adjustments were performed to the onboard clock frequency due to a timing calibration observation of PSR B1821-24 (DOY 266-270, 2017-09-23 to 27th). The clock appeared to have a slow steady drift of up to ~ 40 ms by the end of this period.
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Release 201711204
NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20171204
Release Type: Clock Correction Update
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 76, is available. This file is up to date through 2017-12-04, compared to 2017-10-02 in the previous version (75). The latest clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
For the most part the residuals remain within +/- 2 ms.
There is a gap in the clock correction values for 2017-11-21 to 22 (2881 to 2882 on x-axis of plot) due to Malindi ground station issues during four scheduled passes on those days. We performed two KSAT Singapore station contacts in this gap but we normally exclude data from non-Malindi contacts for clock correction fitting. The impact of this outage is being investigated.
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Release 20180126
NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20180126
Release Type: Clock Correction Update
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 78, is available. compared to 2017-12-22 in the previous version (77). The latest clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
For the most part the residuals remain within +/- 2 ms.
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20180312
Release Type: Clock Correction Update
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 79, is available. This file is up to date through 2018-03-12, compared to 2018-01-26 in the previous version (78). The latest clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
The residuals remain within +/- 2 ms however there is a gap in the data from the Malindi station between 2018:037 0018Z to 2018:039 1611Z **, lost due to groundstation power supply issues.
This potentially impacts detailed timing analysis for the following observations
;sequenceID Target Survey Start_UTC End_UTC
60302003008 NGC_1068 N03 2018:036:05:18:30 2018:037:11:35:00
10402002002 Crab_sl_PA330 CAL 2018:037:11:51:47 2018:037:23:15:00
10402001002 Crab CAL 2018:037:23:17:56 2018:038:10:30:00
10402003003 Crab_bkgd_PA330 CAL 2018:038:10:31:41 2018:038:21:20:00
30301014002 SGR_0526m66 N03 2018:038:21:48:24 2018:039:19:00:00
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20180419
Release Type: Clock Correction Update
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 80, is available. This file is up to date through 2018-04-18, compared to 2018-03-12 in the previous version (79). The latest clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
Remember to use right-click or control-click to save the file.
The residuals remain within +/- 2 ms for the interval covered by the update.
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20180814
Release Type: Clock Correction Update
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 84, is available. This file is up to date through 2018-08-14, compared to 2018-07-26 in the previous version (83). The latest clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20181022
Release Type: Clock Correction Update
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 86, is available. This file is
up to date through 2018-10-22, The latest clock file is available from the SOC
public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
The magnitude of the clock drift rose to just over 100 ms starting on 2018-10-13
(day 3207 on the plot) due to the way the automated adjustment of the clock
divisor had been set up and an unusually large drift. This has now been fixed by
expanding the range of clock drift that is automatically corrected. This is
accounted for in the spline fit that is presented in the clock correction file,
where the residuals remain within +/- 2 ms. However, the large drift will be
noticeable if timing analysis is performed without using the clock correction
file.
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20181030
Release Type: Clock Correction Update
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 87, is available. This file is
up to date through 2018-10-30, The latest clock file is available from the SOC
public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20190228
Release Type: Clock Correction Update
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 90, is available. This file is
up to date through 2019-02-28, The latest clock file is available from the SOC
public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20190314
Release Type: Clock Correction Update
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 91, is available. This file is up to date through 2019-03-14 0915 UTC (DOY 073), compared to 2019-02-28 in the previous version (90).
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
A spline fit covers the period of the update and the residuals remain within +/- 2 ms.
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20190410
Release Type: Clock Correction Update
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 92, is available. This file is up to date through 2019-04-10 1225 UTC (DOY 100), compared to 2019-03-14 in the previous version (91). The latest clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
From a spline fit that covers the period of the update, the residuals remain within +/- 2 ms.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20190513
Release Type: Clock Correction Update
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 93, is available. This file is up to date through 2019-05-13 1301 UTC (DOY 133), compared to 2019-04-10 in the previous version (92). The latest clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
A spline fit that covers the period of the update has residuals which remain within +/- 2 ms except for plot day 3395-96 (2019-04-18 to 19 = DOY 108-109) when there are residuals of ~7 ms.
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20190627
Release Type: Clock Correction Update
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 94, is available. This file is up to date through 2019-06-27 1207 UTC (DOY 178), compared to 2019-05-13 in the previous version (93). The latest clock file is available from the SOC public website:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
The residuals remain within +/- 2 ms.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20190812
Release Type: Clock Correction Update
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 95, is available. This file is up to date through 2019-08-12 1315 UTC (DOY 224), compared to 2019-06-27 in the previous version (94)
The residuals remain within +/- 2 ms.
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20191008
Release Type: Clock Correction Update
Summary of changes:
CLOCK:
An updated NuSTAR clock correction file, version 96, is available. This file is up to date through 2019-10-08
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20191213
Release Type: GAIN and BADPIX
The CALDB tarball contains the following files:
fpm/caldb.indx
fpm/index/caldb.indx20191213
bcf/badpix/nuAbadpix20100101v003.fits
bcf/badpix/nuBbadpix20100101v004.fits
bcf/gain/nuAgain20100101v008.fits
bcf/gain/nuBgain20100101v008.fits
Summary of changes:
BADPIX:
We have updated the list of pixels that should not be used for scientific analysis due
to their pathological response. Many of these pixels are currently non-operational, so
the inclusion of this bad pixel list should make exposure maps more accurate. The number
of bad pixels varies between detectors, but is generally less than a dozen pixels of the
1024 pixels on each detector.
GAIN
This release updates the long-term tracking of the detector. This improves the gain
accuracy after ~2017 compared with the existing CALDB gain files (v007). Since ~2016
the gain decrease of 0.2% per-year has resumed, resulting in roughly an 0.4% decrease in
the apparent energy of photons in mid-2019 compared with the current CALDB release. For
most users this change will be largely undetectable (0.004 @ 6.4 keV = ~25 eV level,
compared with the 40 PI bin resolution) except for detailed modeling of the instrumental
background lines in the 20-40 keV band.
Details of this analysis are documented at the annual meeting of the International
Astrophysical Consortium of High Energy Calibration (IACHEC, https://iachec.org) and will
be described in an upcoming paper. The latest IACHEC presentation on this topic can be
found at: https://iachec.org/wp-content/presentations/2018/Grefenstette_SessionII.pdf
Questions may be directed to the NuSTAR SOC (nustar-help@srl.caltech.edu).
Residual Issues: The long-term gain behavior of FPMA DET2 is slightly different to that
of the other 7 focal plane detectors. We make no changes to the GAIN file for this
detector in this release. Please note that for nearly all observations the source will be
located on DET0 (see the NuSTAR software user's guide for details at
https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/nustar/analysis/nustar_swguide.pdf).
The long-term trends in the gain for FPMA DET2 will be addressed in a future release.
However, we note that a systematic gain offset at the 0.5% level between FPMA DET2 and
other FPM detectors may be present. Again, we expect this will only be detectable during
detailed modeling of the internal background high-energy lines.
As always, we recommend that all users re-process their data with the new calibration
files to obtain the most accurate results.
For users who have downloaded the Level 2 (calibrated and cleaned) event data via the
HEASARC, we recommend checking the CALDBVER keyword in the FITS file header. If the
CALDBVER listed is earlier then 20191213 then we recommend reprocessing the data with the
latest calibration files.
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20191219
This is a patch release for release 20191213, in order to fix some issues with the caldb.indx20191213 file and update incorrect VERSION keywords
Release Type: GAIN and BADPIX
Summary of changes:
BADPIX:
We have updated the list of pixels that should not be used for scientific analysis due
to their pathological response. Many of these pixels are currently non-operational, so
the inclusion of this bad pixel list should make exposure maps more accurate. The number
of bad pixels varies between detectors, but is generally less than a dozen pixels of the
1024 pixels on each detector.
GAIN
This release updates the long-term tracking of the detector. This improves the gain
accuracy after ~2017 compared with the existing CALDB gain files (v007). Since ~2016
the gain decrease of 0.2% per-year has resumed, resulting in roughly an 0.4% decrease in
the apparent energy of photons in mid-2019 compared with the current CALDB release. For
most users this change will be largely undetectable (0.004 @ 6.4 keV = ~25 eV level,
compared with the 40 PI bin resolution) except for detailed modeling of the instrumental
background lines in the 20-40 keV band.
Details of this analysis are documented at the annual meeting of the International
Astrophysical Consortium of High Energy Calibration (IACHEC, https://iachec.org) and will
be described in an upcoming paper. The latest IACHEC presentation on this topic can be
found at: https://iachec.org/wp-content/presentations/2018/Grefenstette_SessionII.pdf
Questions may be directed to the NuSTAR SOC (nustar-help@srl.caltech.edu).
Residual Issues: The long-term gain behavior of FPMA DET2 is slightly different to that
of the other 7 focal plane detectors. We make no changes to the GAIN file for this
detector in this release. Please note that for nearly all observations the source will be
located on DET0 (see the NuSTAR software user's guide for details at
https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/nustar/analysis/nustar_swguide.pdf).
The long-term trends in the gain for FPMA DET2 will be addressed in a future release.
However, we note that a systematic gain offset at the 0.5% level between FPMA DET2 and
other FPM detectors may be present. Again, we expect this will only be detectable during
detailed modeling of the internal background high-energy lines.
As always, we recommend that all users re-process their data with the new calibration
files to obtain the most accurate results.
For users who have downloaded the Level 2 (calibrated and cleaned) event data via the
HEASARC, we recommend checking the CALDBVER keyword in the FITS file header. If the
CALDBVER listed is earlier then 20191213 then we recommend reprocessing the data with the
latest calibration files.
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20200429
NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20200428
Release 20200429 includes new releases of the CLOCKFILE and updates to the ON-AXIS ARFs:
CLOCKFILE:
==========
This is a major upgrade of the NuSTAR clock correction file. Details and comparisons to the previous clock correction file can be found here:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
The clock correction file keeps the NuSTAR relative time (after barycentric corrections) accurate to better than 100 micros and accounts for drifts in the NuSTAR clock caused by temperature variations.
This clockfile is compatible with the current version of barycorr. See the above link or the barycorr fhelp file for its usage.
ON-AXIS ARF UPDATE
===================
A rip in the multi layer insulation (MLI) at the exit aperture of OMA, the optic aligned with detector focal plane module FPMA, has resulted in an increased photon flux through OMA that has manifested itself as a low energy excess. The effect is largest for 3 keV, with an exponential decrease which vanished between 5-8 keV. The rip occurred in early 2016 and progressively enlarged through 2017 to stabilize again in 2018. To compensate for the increased flux, we have changed the amount of MLI covering the opening, F_MLI (in fraction of opening), in the on-axis ARF of module A. To accommodate the time dependent component we are releasing three new ARFs valid in different ranges:
DAT FILE MLI FRACTION
------------------------------- ------------------- ------------
Launch < date < 01/01/2017 nuA20100101v007.arf F_MLI=0.96
01/01/2017 <= date < 01/01/2018 nuA20170101v007.arf F_MLI=0.91
01/01/2018 <= date nuA20180101v007.arf F_MLI=0.86
The changes in the on-axis ARF affects all FPMA data from launch. No changes have been made to FPMB. The impact on data before 2017 is small and the correction removes a 1% excess in FPMA between 3-4 keV. The correction for data after 2018 removes a 4% excess at 3keV that has vanished at 6 keV.
Details on the issue, and a note on future releases, can be found at
https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.00569.
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20200510
Release 20200510 includes a new release of the CLOCKFILE, v101
CLOCKFILE:
==========
This is a major upgrade of the NuSTAR clock correction file. Details and comparisons to the previous clock correction file can be found here:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
The clock correction file keeps the NuSTAR relative time (after barycentric corrections) accurate to better than 100 micros and accounts for drifts in the NuSTAR clock caused by temperature variations.
This clockfile is compatible with the current version of barycorr. See the above link or the barycorr fhelp file for its usage.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20200526
Release 20200526 includes a new release of the CLOCKFILE, v102
CLOCKFILE:
==========
This is a major upgrade of the NuSTAR clock correction file. Details and comparisons to the previous clock correction file can be found here:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
The clock correction file keeps the NuSTAR relative time (after barycentric corrections) accurate to better than 100 micros and accounts for drifts in the NuSTAR clock caused by temperature variations.
This clockfile is compatible with the current version of barycorr. See the above link or the barycorr fhelp file for its usage.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20200612
Release 20200612 includes a new release of the CLOCKFILE, v103
CLOCKFILE:
==========
This is a major upgrade of the NuSTAR clock correction file. Details and comparisons to the previous clock correction file can be found here:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
The clock correction file keeps the NuSTAR relative time (after barycentric corrections) accurate to better than 100 micros and accounts for drifts in the NuSTAR clock caused by temperature variations.
This clockfile is compatible with the current version of barycorr. See the above link or the barycorr fhelp file for its usage.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20200626
Release 20200626 includes a new release of the CLOCKFILE, v104
CLOCKFILE:
==========
This is an update of the upgraded NuSTAR clock correction file. Details and comparisons to the previous clock correction file can be found here:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
The clock correction file keeps the NuSTAR relative time (after barycentric corrections) accurate to better than 100 micros and accounts for drifts in the NuSTAR clock caused by temperature variations.
This clockfile is compatible with the current version of barycorr. See the above link or the barycorr fhelp file for its usage.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20200712
Release 20200712 includes a new release of the CLOCKFILE, v105
CLOCKFILE:
==========
This is an update of the upgraded NuSTAR clock correction file. Details and comparisons to the previous clock correction file can be found here:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
The clock correction file keeps the NuSTAR relative time (after barycentric corrections) accurate to better than 100 micros and accounts for drifts in the NuSTAR clock caused by temperature variations.
This clockfile is compatible with the current version of barycorr. See the above link or the barycorr fhelp file for its usage.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20200726
Release 20200726 includes a new release of the CLOCKFILE, v106
CLOCKFILE:
==========
This is an update of the upgraded NuSTAR clock correction file. Details and comparisons to the previous clock correction file can be found here:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
The clock correction file keeps the NuSTAR relative time (after barycentric corrections) accurate to better than 100 micros and accounts for drifts in the NuSTAR clock caused by temperature variations.
This clockfile is compatible with the current version of barycorr.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20200811
Release 20200811 includes a new release of the CLOCKFILE, v107
CLOCKFILE:
==========
This is an update of the upgraded NuSTAR clock correction file. Details and comparisons to the previous clock correction file can be found here:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20200813
Release Type: CALDB release
CLOCKFILE:
==========
Contents:
fpm/bcf/clock/nuCclock20100101v108.fits
Summary of changes:
Clock files v.108 and later contain an improvement of the clock offset model that builds on the fine clock correction introduced in v.095. For clock files prior to v.108, the absolute alignment to UTC time has been measured to be systematically off by ~5ms Additionally, the model used to produce the clock file suffered from time intervals with no temperature measurements (such as reboots of the system).
Clock file v.108 includes an absolute systematic shift of 4.9 ms and improves the treatment of these bad" intervals.
More details about the impact of the clock correction file are available at the NuSTAR SOC at this link:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
ON-AXIS ARF UPDATE
==================
Contents:
fpm/bcf/arf/nuAtemp0_20100101v001.arf
fpm/bcf/arf/nuAtemp0_20170101v001.arf
fpm/bcf/arf/nuAtemp0_20180101v001.arf
fpm/bcf/arf/nuAtemp1_20190101v001.arf
fpm/bcf/arf/nuAtemp2_20190101v001.arf
fpm/bcf/arf/nuAtemp3_20190101v001.arf
fpm/bcf/arf/nuAtemp4_20190101v001.arf
fpm/bcf/arf/nuAtemp5_20190101v001.arf
Summary of changes:
This CALDB version contains required files for the NuSTARDAS v2.0.0 update which implements a new temperature-dependence during the ARF generation that should improve performance in a small number of cases for FPMA. Please see the NuSTARDAS section in the HEASOFT release notes for further information:
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20200826
Release Type: CALDB release
CLOCKFILE:
==========
Contents:
fpm/bcf/clock/nuCclock20100101v109.fits
Summary of changes:
Clock files v.109 and later contain an improvement of the clock offset model that builds on the fine clock correction introduced in v.095. For clock files prior to v.100, the absolute alignment to UTC time has been measured to be systematically off by ~5ms Additionally, the model used to produce the clock file suffered from time intervals with no temperature measurements (such as reboots of the system).
Clock file v.109 includes an absolute systematic shift of 4.9 ms and improves the treatment of these �bad" intervals.
More details about the impact of the clock correction file are available at the NuSTAR SOC at this link:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20200912
Release Type: CALDB release
CLOCKFILE:
==========
Contents:
fpm/bcf/clock/nuCclock20100101v110.fits
Summary of changes:
Clock files v.109 and later contain an improvement of the clock offset model that builds on the fine clock correction introduced in v.095. For clock files prior to v.100, the absolute alignment to UTC time has been measured to be systematically off by ~5ms Additionally, the model used to produce the clock file suffered from time intervals with no temperature measurements (such as reboots of the system).
More details about the impact of the clock correction file are available at the NuSTAR SOC at this link:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20201101
Release Type: CALDB release
CLOCKFILE:
==========
Contents:
fpm/bcf/clock/nuCclock20100101v111.fits
Summary of changes:
During production of the NuSTAR clock file, a number of gaps were identified in the engineering files sent to the Science Operation Center (SOC) from the Berkeley Mission Operations Center (MOC). These engineering files are primarily used by the clock correction code to track the temperature of the clock oscillator.
When possible, these engineering files were re-delivered to the SOC and the affected sequence IDs have been reprocessed and redelivered to the NuSTAR data archive at HEASARC. A list of these sequences IDs can be found here:
http://nustarsoc.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/dlog_update.php
The clock correction file in this release was produced based on the updated engineering files and is expected to provide improved performance than the previous clock file, especially for observations that occurred during the gaps in the DLOG files.
For a list of remaining known timing issues, please see:
http://nustarsoc.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
which is updated as needed.
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20201130
Release 20201130 includes a new release of the CLOCKFILE, v112
CLOCKFILE:
==========
This is an update of the NuSTAR clock correction file. Details and comparisons to the previous clock correction file can be found here:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
The clock correction file keeps the NuSTAR relative time (after barycentric corrections) accurate to better than 100 microseconds and accounts for drifts in the NuSTAR clock caused by temperature variations.
This clockfile is compatible with the current version of barycorr. See the above link or the barycorr fhelp file for its usage.
Due to the nature of the clockfile correction, we note that the timing solution may improve for the ~14 days prior to the generation of the clockfile as more data are incorporated into the fit. For high precision timing of very recent observations we recommend either waiting for the next clock file update or contacting the NuSTAR SOC for assistance.
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20201217
This release includes a new release of the CLOCKFILE, v113
CLOCKFILE:
==========
This is an update of the NuSTAR clock correction file. Details and comparisons to the previous clock correction file can be found here:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
The clock correction file keeps the NuSTAR relative time (after barycentric corrections) accurate to better than 100 microseconds and accounts for drifts in the NuSTAR clock caused by temperature variations.
This clockfile is compatible with the current version of barycorr. See the above link or the barycorr fhelp file for its usage.
Due to the nature of the clockfile correction, we note that the timing solution may improve for the ~14 days prior to the generation of the clockfile as more data are incorporated into the fit. For high precision timing of very recent observations we recommend either waiting for the next clock file update or contacting the NuSTAR SOC for assistance.
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20210104
This release includes a new release of the CLOCKFILE, v114
CLOCKFILE:
==========
This is an update of the NuSTAR clock correction file. Details and comparisons to the previous clock correction file can be found here:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
The clock correction file keeps the NuSTAR relative time (after barycentric corrections) accurate to better than 100 microseconds and accounts for drifts in the NuSTAR clock caused by temperature variations.
This clockfile is compatible with the current version of barycorr. See the above link or the barycorr fhelp file for its usage.
Due to the nature of the clockfile correction, we note that the timing solution may improve for the ~14 days prior to the generation of the clockfile as more data are incorporated into the fit. For high precision timing of very recent observations we recommend either waiting for the next clock file update or contacting the NuSTAR SOC for assistance.
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20210202
This release includes a new release of the CLOCKFILE, v115
CLOCKFILE:
==========
This is an update of the NuSTAR clock correction file. Details and comparisons to the previous clock correction file can be found here:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
The clock correction file keeps the NuSTAR relative time (after barycentric corrections) accurate to better than 100 microseconds and accounts for drifts in the NuSTAR clock caused by temperature variations.
This clockfile is compatible with the current version of barycorr. See the above link or the barycorr fhelp file for its usage.
Due to the nature of the clockfile correction, we note that the timing solution may improve for the ~14 days prior to the generation of the clockfile as more data are incorporated into the fit. For high precision timing of very recent observations we recommend either waiting for the next clock file update or contacting the NuSTAR SOC for assistance.
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20210210
Release Type: CALDB release
==========
Contents:
fpm/caldb.indx
fpm/index/caldb.indx2021XXYY
fpm/bcf/instrument/nuCabsparBe20100101v001.fits
fpm/bcf/align/nuCalign20120101v001.fits
fpm/bcf/align/nuCalign20130515v001.fits
fpm/bcf/align/nuCalign20140927v001.fits
fpm/bcf/align/nuCalign20160209v001.fits
fpm/bcf/align/nuCalign20170624v001.fits
fpm/bcf/align/nuCalign20181201v001.fits
fpm/bcf/align/nuCalign20190510v001.fits
fpm/bcf/align/nuCalign20191017v001.fits
fpm/bcf/align/nuCalign20200325v001.fits
fpm/bcf/align/nuCalign20200901v001.fits
fpm/bcf/clock/nuCclock20100101v116.fits
Summary of changes:
ALIGNMENT:
==========
The NuSTAR astrometry has been improved by bringing the source positions on the FPMs into better agreement with one another and closer to the J2000 source coordinates. The update is in the CALDB only in the form of time dependent alignment files and requires the rerun of nupipeline to activate. The update affects source position of events only and not the energy. The update primarily improves observations taken after August 2017, but also adds some improvements across the entire mission lifetime. Before 2017, the astrometric improvement is on the order of a pixel (~2.5"). After, 2017, the adjustment of the source coordinates steadily increases from one pixel in 2017 up to a possible 4-5 pixels (8 - 10") in late 2020.
CLOCKFILE:
==========
This release includes a new release of the CLOCKFILE, v116
This is an update of the NuSTAR clock correction file. Details and comparisons to the previous clock correction file can be found here:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
The clock correction file keeps the NuSTAR relative time (after barycentric corrections) accurate to better than 100 microseconds and accounts for drifts in the NuSTAR clock caused by temperature variations.
This clockfile is compatible with the current version of barycorr. See the above link or the barycorr fhelp file for its usage.
Due to the nature of the clockfile correction, we note that the timing solution may improve for the ~14 days prior to the generation of the clockfile as more data are incorporated into the fit. For high precision timing of very recent observations we recommend either waiting for the next clock file update or contacting the NuSTAR SOC for assistance.
BE WINDOW:
==========
We have included a file describing the attenuation due to the beryllium window covering the detectors. This file is useful for some users performing analysis of stray light (either stray light due to the cosmic X-ray background or stray light due to off-axis, bright X-ray sources) but is not directly used by NuSTARDAS.
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20211020
Release Type: CALDB release
==========
Contents:
data/nustar/fpm/index/caldb.indx20211020
data/nustar/fpm/bcf/detabs/nuAdetabs20100101v004.fits
data/nustar/fpm/bcf/detabs/nuBdetabs20100101v004.fits
data/nustar/fpm/bcf/vign/nuBvign20100101v008.fits
data/nustar/fpm/bcf/vign/nuAvign20100101v008.fits
data/nustar/fpm/bcf/gain/nuAgain20100101v009.fits
data/nustar/fpm/bcf/gain/nuBgain20100101v009.fits
data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuBcutgrprmf20100101v003.fits
data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuAnocutgrprmf20100101v003.fits
data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuBnocutdet0_20100101v003.rmf
data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuAcutdet1_20100101v003.rmf
data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuBcutdet0_20100101v003.rmf
data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuAnocutdet2_20100101v003.rmf
data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuBnocutdet1_20100101v003.rmf
data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuAcutdet0_20100101v003.rmf
data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuAnocutdet3_20100101v003.rmf
data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuBcutdet1_20100101v003.rmf
data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuAcutdet3_20100101v003.rmf
data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuBnocutdet2_20100101v003.rmf
data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuAnocutdet0_20100101v003.rmf
data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuBcutdet2_20100101v003.rmf
data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuAcutgrprmf20100101v003.fits
data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuAcutdet2_20100101v003.rmf
data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuBnocutdet3_20100101v003.rmf
data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuBnocutgrprmf20100101v003.fits
data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuBcutdet3_20100101v003.rmf
data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuAnocutdet1_20100101v003.rmf
Summary of changes:
This is a major update in the calibration of the NuSTAR observatory based on detailed analysis of more than nine years of observations of the Crab, utilizing both focused and stray light measurements. Details of the analysis are presented in Madsen et al. (2021) JATIS in prep. (https://arxiv.org/abs/2110.11522), which is also available via the CALDB documentation page
https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/caldb/nustar/docs/fpm/index.html
A summary is also available on the SOC webpage https://nustarsoc.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/CALDB20211020.php
The overall changes between the previous (CALDB v20211004 and earlier) and this new calibration (CALDB v20211020) are primarily off-axis dependent. Users of the updated calibration may see the following changes compared to previous analysis:
# A flux increase of ~5% for sources < 1 arcmin off-axis
- A flux increase of ~10% for sources 1 to 2 arcmin off-axis
- A flux increase of ~15% for sources > 4 arcmin off-axis
# Slopes of power law model components may change by ~0.04 depending on off-axis angle
# More accurate high-energy and high off-axis angle corrections
# A better agreement in the FPMA and FPMB flux measurements
We expect that for most NuSTAR observations this calibration update will have little or no practical change in interpretation results, especially for analysis of low signal-to-noise spectra.
There is no update to NuSTARDAS required to utilize CALDB v20211020.
DETABS: v004
============
Updated the CdZnTe and Pt absorption thicknesses for all 8 NuSTAR detectors. This is based on an analysis of the Crab spectra from over 500 ks of stray light observations have been extracted independently to recover the distinct DETABS parameters for each detector. These low-energy Pt and CdZnTe absorption components are independent of observation epoch and the use of stray light observations, which by-pass the NuSTAR optics, resolves the degeneracy with vignetting corrections.
RMF: v003
=========
Updated the RMFs to provide better fidelity at low energies (<4 keV) and increased the statistical precision of the RMFs. The RMF generation code has been improved to properly account for past coarse measurements of trigger threshold and noise on the shaping amplifier. The number of incident photons used in the RMF generation has been increased by a factor of ten to improve the statistical fluctuations in the quantum efficiency. The use of stray light observations, which by-pass the NuSTAR optics, resolves the degeneracy with vignetting corrections.
VIGNETTING: v008
================
Updated the vignetting files for both telescopes taking into account the above calibrations. This includes an overall absolute calibration adjustment to conform to the updated NuSTAR absolute flux calibration. The NuSTAR vignetting files have been regenerated based on analysis of the Crab spectrum from observations at various off-axis angles amounting to a total exposure time of 233 ks. An iterative fitting procedure was devised to ensure good results, treating each off-axis bin between 0 to 7 arcmin off-axis with sufficient fidelity, to produce the correction to the response function as a function of energy and off-axis angle.
The previous responses had a dependency on off-axis angle in both shape and normalization, which are strongly coupled, which has been largely mitigated by the new responses. The deviations from the Crab spectrum are now less than +/- 2% below 50 keV.
GAIN: v009
==========
Added a July 2021 epoch to track the long-term gain calibration of the the NuSTAR detectors. Details of the analysis can be found in the calibration memo (CAL_NuSTAR_20211020.pdf) available on the NuSTAR calibration webpage at the HEASARC linked above.
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20240229
###################################################
### ###
### DO NOT USE THIS CALDB RELEASE ###
### ###
### Invalid versions of some calibration files ###
### were released in this version (20240229) ###
### ###
### Use CALDB release version 20240311a ###
### and later for the most up-to-date versions ###
### of NuSTAR calibration files ###
### ###
###################################################
Release Type: CALDB release
==========
Contents:
data/nustar/fpm/index/caldb.indx20240229
data/nustar/fpm/caldb.indx
data/nustar/fpm/bcf/gain/nuAgain20100101v011.fits
data/nustar/fpm/bcf/arf/nuAtemp0_20221201v001.arf
data/nustar/fpm/bcf/clock/nuCclock20100101v177.fits.gz
Summary of changes:
GAIN: FPMA v011
=========
Adjusts the long-term gain calibration for FPMA DET0. This release is only for FPMA and only affects the gain calibration for that detector. This change corrects a small 0.2% drop in the line energy calibration from 2020 to 2022 on FPMA DET0.
Details of the analysis can be found in the calibration memo:
https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/caldb/nustar/docs/fpm/index.html
While the most up-to-date version of this analysis is found on the arXiv here:
https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.04058
=========
ARF: Removing the FPMA Effective Area Temperature Dependence
=========
This patch prevents the incorrect use of the temperature-dependent ARF correction introduced in the NuSTAR CALDB 20200813 and NuSTARDAS v2.0.0. After December 2022, the thermistor used to select the temperature-dependent MLI correction is no longer operating correctly. This can result in an incorrect effective area produced by nuproducts if the mlicorr=yes keyword is set. The impact is a small (few %) apparent 'tail' in NuSTAR spectra when comparing results from FPMA and FPMB.
The updated CALDB removes the ability to perform a temperature-dependence correction so that mlicorr=yes and mlicorr=no should result in identical output ARF files.
No adjustments to the NuSTARDAS are required by this CALDB update.
=========
CLOCKFILE:
==========
This release includes a new release of the CLOCKFILE, v177
released at the HEASARC: 2024-02-29
This is an update of the NuSTAR clock correction file. Details and comparisons to the previous clock correction file can be found here:
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/NuSTAROperationSite/clockfile.php
The clock correction file keeps the NuSTAR relative time (after barycentric corrections) accurate to better than 100 microseconds and accounts for drifts in the NuSTAR clock caused by temperature variations.
This clockfile is compatible with the current version of barycorr. See the above link or the barycorr fhelp file for its usage.
Due to the nature of the clockfile correction, we note that the timing solution may improve for the ~14 days prior to the generation of the clockfile as more data are incorporated into the fit. For high precision timing of very recent observations we recommend either waiting for the next clock file update or contacting the NuSTAR SOC for assistance.
There was an issue with the NuSTAR ground station clock between 2021/07/30 and 2021/08/04. As of this release, the clockfile performance appears to be nominal during this period. But please see the NuSTAR SOC Clockfile page for a list of potentially affected sequence IDs and targets and, if there are any anomalous timing signatures for these observations, please contact the NuSTAR SOC for guidance.
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NuSTAR CALDB Release Version: 20240311a
This release was done to re-release valid versions of the following files into the NuSTAR CALDB:
$CALDB/data/nustar/fpm/bcf/detabs/nuAdetabs20100101v004.fits
$CALDB/data/nustar/fpm/bcf/detabs/nuBdetabs20100101v004.fits
$CALDB/data/nustar/fpm/bcf/vign/nuBvign20100101v008.fits
$CALDB/data/nustar/fpm/bcf/vign/nuAvign20100101v008.fits
$CALDB/data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuAcutdet1_20100101v003.rmf
$CALDB/data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuBcutdet0_20100101v003.rmf
$CALDB/data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuAcutdet0_20100101v003.rmf
$CALDB/data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuBcutdet1_20100101v003.rmf
$CALDB/data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuAcutdet3_20100101v003.rmf
$CALDB/data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuBcutdet2_20100101v003.rmf
$CALDB/data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuAcutgrprmf20100101v003.fits
$CALDB/data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuAcutdet2_20100101v003.rmf
$CALDB/data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuBcutdet3_20100101v003.rmf
Invalid versions of these files were released on Feb 29, 2024 and were present in the NuSTAR CALDB through March 21, 2024.
Released at the HEASARC: 2024-03-20
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