Under the direct authority of the Directorate of Science, the Head of the Science Operations Department is responsible for the development of the science operations infrastructure under the Directorate’s responsibility, the operation of the Directorate’s missions once successfully commissioned, and the curation of all scientific data in the missions’ legacy phase. These responsibilities are discharged in full coordination with the Directorate’s Departments and Offices and as appropriate, with the Directorate of Operations (D/OPS).

In implementing its duties, the Science Operations Department is supported by the:

• Mission Management and Science Operations Division (SCI-SO);
• Science Operations Development Division (SCI-SD);
• Data Science and Archives Division (SCI-SA).

Field(s) of activity for the internship

Topic of the internship:  Straying from the path: improving the XMM-Newton mirror models with out-of-field observations of Sco X-1

XMM-Newton is the X-ray telescope of ESA and a workhorse for understanding black holes, supernovae, and galaxy clusters. It works by focusing X-rays through 3 telescopes made of gold-coated concentric mirror shells.  The mirrors were measured on the ground and based on these data a mirror model was built, which is still in use today. This model describes the effective area of the mirrors at different energies and off-axis angles. Some astrophysical observations show that the model might not perfectly reflect reality and needs updating.

During this internship, you will analyze recently obtained out-of-field observations of Sco X-1, which shows characteristic single-reflection rings from the mirror shells. By comparing the images of these shells to ray-tracing simulations based on custom-built software, a better understanding of the exact alignment of all shells can be obtained. These data will be paramount to updating the mirror model and improving the calibration of XMM-Newton.

You will work in close collaboration with the calibration experts at ESAC and the Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany. The project sits at the intersection between engineering and science and is therefore suited to anyone curious about X-ray optics, X-ray astronomy, and modern satellite operations. The expected duration is 6 months, to allow time for you to familiarize yourself with XMM-Newton and the necessary software.

Required Qualifications

You must be a university student, preferably in your final or second-to-last year of a university course at the Master’s level and you need to remain enrolled at your University for the entire duration of the internship.

Additional requirements

The working languages of the Agency are English and French. A good knowledge of one of these is required. Knowledge of another Member State language would be an asset.

• Enthusiasm and curiosity for exploring scientific data;
• You should be comfortable with working in an international environment;
• Some experience with command line computing (e.g. terminal, Unix) and a scripting language (e.g. python) is beneficial;
• Basic knowledge about X-ray telescopes and X-ray data is desirable, but not required.