The X-ray Astronomy Satellite SAX
AbstractThe SAX satellite is forseen for launch at the end of 1992 to study the X-ray emission from galactic and extra-galactic sources in the energy range 0.1-200 keV. The payload consists of four concentrator/spectrometer systems (3 units 1-10keV, 1 unit 0.1-10keV), a high pressure gas scintillation proportional counter (3-120keV), a phoswich scintillation counter (15-200keV), and two wide field cameras (2-30keV). Together these instruments will perform the following:- - Broad band spectroscopy (E/ΔE=12) in the energy range 0.1-10 keV with imaging resolution of 1 arcmin- Continuum and cyclotron line spectroscopy (E/ΔE=5-20) in the wide energy range 3-200 keV- Variability studies of bright source energy spectra on time scales from milliseconds to days and months- Systematic long term source variability studies in selected regions of the sky down to a source intensity of 1 mCrab.