SAX: Wide Field Cameras (WFC)

This is only a general description of the instrument. Please, refer to the Instrument Home Pages for updated information.

• The two SAX WFC with their large fields of view of 20X20 degrees that will survey the X-ray sky in the 2-30 keV range, will monitor celestial sources and search for transient sources, thus complementing the activity of the other instruments.
  

• The WFC use the shadow mask technique for reconstructing the positions and intensities of X-ray sources in their fields of view. Each WFC consists of a multiwire proportional counter which can measure the arrival position and energy of any X-ray photon interacting within it. In front of this, in the field of view, is a mask with a random pattern of sections opaque and transparent to the incoming X-rays. The X-ray shadow cast by the mask and recorded by the proportional counter is unique for each X-ray source in the instrument's field of view and thus, knowing the mask pattern, each source and its intensity can be individuated. The intrinsic angular resolution of each WFC is 5 arcmin.

This file was last modified on Wednesday, 02-Sep-1998 17:28:58 CEST by Mauro Orlandini