This website is a research tool for making quick-look science online using data from the XMM-Newton source catalog. For the first time it implements several advanced features for scientific analysis such as X-ray spectral fitting and photons extraction with barycentering in a web browser. It also follows a unique development model representing an example of new type of citizen science with highly skilled volunteers. Brief overview of these concepts is given in the following presentation: XMM_catalog.pdf.

Team

The web application has benefited from the assistance of citizen scientists — highly experienced software engineers working outside the academia that volunteered to help with its development. Here is the list of contributors (citizen scientists in italics):

• Maxim Chernyshov, backend programming
• Alexey Sergeev, design
• Askar Timirgazin, frontend programming
• Natalie Webb, computing resources
• Mickael Coriat, maintenance and updates
• Ivan Zolotukhin, the idea and overall implementation

Feedback

The website is experimental and works in β mode, so some features may not work properly. If you believe you came across its malfunction, or want to request a new feature, you are welcome to email site authors.

Acknowledgment

If this website is useful for your research, please include the link / and cite Zolotukhin et al. (2017) ApJ 839 125 in any emerging publication.

Technologies

We would like to acknowledge the usage of these open source technologies:

• Django, web framework
• PostgreSQL, database management system
• AstroTools, JavaScript library for browser communication with desktop applications
• Aladin Lite, lightweight JavaScript version of the Aladin tool
• XSPEC/PyXSPEC, spectral fitting engine