Manuals & Memos

The CXC team has documented Chandra coordinate systems, algorithms, procedures, and other details since before launch. Most of these document are permanently archived and available at Zenodo. Below, we provide links to CIAO manuals and provide DOI links to specific documentation on Zenodo that is of more interest to CIAO users. We also maintain presentations from the CIAO Workshops.

About Chandra

• An X-ray Data Primer: What I Wish I Knew when Starting X-Ray Astronomy (alternate links: ADS | astro-ph)

• A Chandra Pocket Guide

• The Proposer's Observatory Guide

General

• Chandra Coordinate Systems:

  • Imaging (PDF | DOI, 25 pages)
  • Aspect Calibration (PDF | DOI, 9 pages)
  • Dispersed Spectra (PDF | DOI, 5 pages)
  • Coordinate Systems Manual (PDF | DOI, 68 pages)

• Data Model:

  • Introduction (PDF | DOI, 34 pages)
  • Principal DM Tools (PDF | DOI, 43 pages)
  • Virtual File Syntax (PDF | DOI, 36 pages)
  • Using the ASCII Kernel (PDF | DOI, 8 pages)

• Data Products Guide (HTML)

• The Chandra ABC Guide to Pileup (PDF | DOI, 26 pages)

Imaging

• Chandra Coordinate Systems: Imaging (PDF | DOI, 25 pages)

• Detect Manual (HTML) or PDF (190 pages, DOI)

  • Detect Manual data (tar.gz, 32 MB)

• An Introduction to Exposure Maps (PDF | DOI, 12 pages)

• SAOImage DS9 Reference Manual (HTML)

• Transformation, Convolution, and Deconvolution (PDF | DOI, 79 pages)

• Data Produce Interface: Transformation, Convolution, and Deconvolution (DOI, 16 pages)

• How & Why (or Why Not) to Combine Data (PDF | DOI, 7 pages)

Grating Spectroscopy

• Chandra Coordinate Systems: Dispersed Spectra (PDF | DOI, 5 pages)

• Analysis Guide for Chandra High Resolution Spectroscopy (HTML)

• How & Why (or Why Not) to Combine Data (PDF | DOI, 7 pages)