Grefenstette BW, Ludlam RM, Thompson ET, Garcia J, Hare J, Jaodand AD, Krivonos RA, Madsen KK, Mastroserio G, Slaughter CM, Tomsick JA, Wik D, Zoglauer A (2021)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2021
Book Volume: 909
Article Number: 30
Journal Issue: 1
We present StrayCats, a catalog of NuSTAR stray light observations of X-ray sources. Stray light observations arise for sources 1 -4 away from the telescope pointing direction. At this off-axis angle, X-rays pass through a gap between the optics and aperture stop and so do not interact with the X-ray optics; instead, they directly illuminate the NuSTAR focal plane. We have systematically identified and examined over 1400 potential observations resulting in a catalog of 436 telescope fields and 78 stray light sources that have been identified. The sources identified include historically known persistently bright X-ray sources, X-ray binaries in outburst, pulsars, and type I X-ray bursters. In this paper, we present an overview of the catalog, how we identified the StrayCats sources, and the analysis techniques required to produce high-level science products. Finally, we present a few brief examples of the science quality of these unique data.
APA:
Grefenstette, B.W., Ludlam, R.M., Thompson, E.T., Garcia, J., Hare, J., Jaodand, A.D.,... Zoglauer, A. (2021). StrayCats: A Catalog of NuSTAR Stray Light Observations. Astrophysical Journal, 909(1). https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/abe045
MLA:
Grefenstette, Brian W., et al. "StrayCats: A Catalog of NuSTAR Stray Light Observations." Astrophysical Journal 909.1 (2021).
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