Chandra Proposal Planning

These calibration files, updated to the final CY15 release on 13 DEC 2012, are intended for use during the the Chandra Cycle 15 Call for Proposals.

ACIS RMFs and ARFs: RMFs and ARFs for specific positions on ACIS-I and ACIS-S. These files were generated from the most recent CALDB available at the start of the current proposal cycle.
Grating RMFs and ARFs: Grating RMFs and ARFs for the HETG/ACIS-S, LETG/ACIS-S, and LETG/HRC-S grating/detector configurations. These files were generated from the most recent CALDB available at the start of the current proposal cycle.
PIMMS Effective Areas: Technical information and plots of the effective areas used to calculate count rates in the PIMMS software.
Chandra Effective Area Viewer: View the current cycle effective areas for the PIMMS-supported configurations, including plots and specific data values versus photon energy, and compare data from different cycles.

Introduction: Header Keywords; Directory Structure; Indexing System; Versioning
Download the CALDB4: Download Version 4.5.6; Release Notes
Caveats for the Chandra CALDB4: 38 ACIS OBS_IDs with T_GAIN correction problem (posted 24 April 2012); ACIS N0005 Responses Suite Caveat; HRC-I RMF v2 Caveat; ACIS Epoch 42 T_GAIN Error
Querying the CALDB4
Calibration Data
Proposal Planning
References
Release Notes
CXC Links: CIAO (Data Analysis)
Site Map

Analysis Notes

Matching CIAO and CALDB Versions

CALDB 4.5.6 should not be used unless you are running CIAO 4.3 or later versions.

Are your versions mismatched? Time to upgrade CIAO and CALDB!

News

Previous Items

28 Feb 2013 [New]

CalDB 4.5.6, an upgrade to CalDB 4.5.5, has been released. There are several important new items in CalDB 4.5.6, including the ACIS T_GAIN upgrade Epoch 52 (Nov-Jan 2013), ACIS blank-sky background files (Group F), and a fix for the FP_TEMP anomaly that occured during Sept-Oct 2005. See the CalDB 4.5.6 Release Notes for details.

08 Jan 2013

CalDB 4.5.5.1, a patch upgrade to CalDB 4.5.5, has been released. This minor patch upgrade corrects header keyword omissions in the new ACIS time-dependent QEU files originally released in CalDB 4.5.5 below. See the CalDB 4.5.5.1 Release Notes for details.

13 Dec 2012

CalDB 4.5.5, a cumulative upgrade to CalDB 4.4.7 through 4.5.4, includes the following: ACIS T_GAIN Epoch 51, ACIS time-dependent QEUs, HRC-I 2012 GMAP and PIBGSPEC updates, HRC-S QE for post-HV-adjust OBS_IDs, the PIMMS CY15 Effective areas, and (once again!) RE-re-corrected ACIS Group E blank-sky background files. See the CalDB 4.5.5 Release Notes for details.

15 Oct 2012

CalDB 4.5.3, a cumulative upgrade to CalDB 4.4.7 through 4.5.2, includes the RE-corrected ACIS Group E blank-sky background files, as promised on 04 Oct 2012, when an error was discovered. See the CalDB 4.5.3 Release Notes for details.

27 Sep 2012

CalDB 4.5.2, a cumulative upgrade to CalDB 4.4.7 through 4.5.1, includes the latest ACIS T_GAIN Epoch 50 quarterly updates. NOTICE as of 04 Oct 2012: The included ACIS Group E BKGRND files version N0002 that were supposed to be corrected are still problematic. They will be replaced ASAP. See the CALDB 4.5.2 Release Notes for details.

24 Jul 2012

CalDB 4.5.1, an upgrade to CalDB 4.4.7 through 4.5.0. This upgrade includes upgrades to the HRC-S time-dependent gain (T_GMAP) file originally released in December 2009. It adds corrections for 2012 Obs_IDs with HRC-S/LETG at either the old or new HRC-S HV settings, which were changed on 29 March 2012. See the CalDB 4.5.1 Release Notes for details.

27 Jun 2012

CalDB 4.5.0, an upgrade to CalDB 4.4.7 through 4.4.10. This upgrade includes fixes to the CalDB for certain OBS_IDs that have trouble in reprocessing or analysis due to incorrect calibration validity end dates. It also include new HRC-I and HRC-S GAPLOOKUP (DEGAP solution) files relevant for imaging, LETGS, and timing data. See the CalDB 4.5.0 Release Notes for details.

30 May 2012

CalDB 4.4.10, a patch upgrade to CalDB 4.4.7 and 4.4.8. This upgrade includes latest ACIS Contamination Correction (CONTAM) upgrade version N0007, and the latest T_GAIN corrections from Epoch 49 (Feb-Apr 2012). See the CalDB 4.4.10 Release Notes for details.