| Issue |
Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser.
Volume 122, Number 2, April II 1997
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 309 - 326 | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/aas:1997137 | |
| Published online | 15 April 1997 | |
The low-energy concentrator spectrometer on-board the BeppoSAX X-ray astronomy satellite
Astrophysics Division, Space Science Department of ESA, ESTEC, Postbus 299, 2200 AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands
Send offprint request to: A.N. Parmar
Received:
15
May
1996
Accepted:
2
July
1996
The payload of the Italian/Dutch spacecraft BeppoSAX includes a set of
four X-ray concentrators each of geometric area 
together with imaging gas scintillation proportional
counter detectors located at the focal planes.
One of these detectors, the Low-Energy Concentrator Spectrometer (LECS),
is sensitive to X-rays in the energy
range 0.1-10 keV, while the other three cover a narrower energy
range of 1.3-10 keV.
In order to achieve the extended low-energy response of the LECS a novel type
of gas scintillation proportional counter has been developed which dispenses
with the separate drift and scintillation regions of conventional
instruments.
The design and performance of the instrument together with
its calibration and data analysis system are described here.
Key words: instrumentation: detectors / methods: data analysis / methods: observational / techniques: spectroscopic / X-rays: general
© European Southern Observatory (ESO), 1997