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PhD Thesis (PDF) - Department of Astronomy - University of Virginia

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2.2 Observation and Data Reduction<br />

NGC 4365 was observed on 2001 June 2–3 with a live exposure <strong>of</strong> 40,429 s, while<br />

NGC 4382 was observed on 2001 May 29–30 for 39,749 s. Both galaxies were observed<br />

with the ACIS-235678 chips operated at a temperature <strong>of</strong> −120 ◦ C and with a frame<br />

time <strong>of</strong> 3.2 s. We determined the pointings so that the entire galaxy was located on<br />

the S3 chip and so that the center <strong>of</strong> each galaxy was not on a node boundary <strong>of</strong><br />

the chip. Although a number <strong>of</strong> serendipitous sources were seen on the other chips,<br />

the analysis <strong>of</strong> both galaxies in this chapter is based on data from the S3 chip alone.<br />

The data were telemetered in Faint mode, and only events with ASCA grades <strong>of</strong> 0,<br />

2, 3, 4, and 6 were included. Photon energies were determined using the gain file<br />

acisD2000-08-12gainN0003.fits. We excluded bad pixels, bad columns, and columns<br />

adjacent to bad columns or chip node boundaries.<br />

Chandra is known to encounter periods <strong>of</strong> high background (“background flares”),<br />

which especially affect the backside-illuminated S1 and S3 chips. 1 We determined the<br />

background count rate for each galaxy, using the S1 chip to avoid the enhanced<br />

flux due to the galaxy on the S3 chip. For both NGC 4365 and NGC 4382, no<br />

background flares were seen. The backgrounds for extended regions were taken from<br />

the deep blank sky backgrounds compiled by Maxim Markevitch 3 , and were adjusted<br />

to the aspect histories <strong>of</strong> our observations using his MAKE ACISBG program 3 The<br />

normalization <strong>of</strong> the background was increased very slightly to match the 5–10 keV<br />

count rate <strong>of</strong> the blank-sky background with a galaxy emission-free region <strong>of</strong> each<br />

galaxy on the S3 chip. We included the “background” due to the readout artifact in<br />

ACIS using his MAKE READOUT BG program 3 .<br />

On the S3 image <strong>of</strong> NGC 4365, there were two X-ray sources with positions that<br />

1 See http://cxc.harvard.edu/contrib/maxim/acisbg/.<br />

16

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