ASTROSAT SXT Specs

ASTROSAT Soft X-ray imaging Telescope (SXT):

The soft X-ray telescope on ASTROSAT will employ focussing optics and a deep depletion CCD camera at the focal plane to perform X-ray imaging in 0.3-8.0 keV band. The optics will consist of 41 concentric shells of gold-coated conical foil mirrors in an approximate Wolter-I configuration. The focal plane CCD camera will be very similar to that flown on SWIFT XRT. The CCD will be operated at a temperature of about -80^oC by thermoelectric cooling.

Click to learn more about the SXT optics and the CCD camera.

A poster on ASTROSAT SXT is available for download.

The main characteristics of the SXT will be as follows:

Telescope length	:	2465 mm (including baffle, door and camera)
Focal Length	:	2000 mm
Telescope PSF	:	1.5 - 2.5 arcmin (rms)
Field of View	:	41.3 x 41.3 arcmin
Energy range	:	0.3-8.0 keV
Detector	:	E2V CCD-22 (Frame Store)
Detector Format	:	600x600 pixels
Pixel Scale	:	4.13 arc sec/pixel
CCD Readout modes	:	Photon Counting, Imaging, Timing
Effective Area	:	200 cm² @ 1.5 keV (See figure below)
Position accuracy	:	30 arc sec
Sensitivity expected	:	10 micro Crab or better

The effective area of the SXT as a function of photon energy is displayed below:

Outer structure of the SXT