Large Area Soft X-Ray Imaging System for Cosmic X-Ray Studies from Rockets

Abstract

A soft X-ray imaging system consisting of a large area focusing collector and a position sensitive proportional counter has been constructed for cosmic X-ray observations from a sounding rocket. The focusing collector consists of two successive arrays of reflecting plates shaped in the form of nested parabolas. The angular resolution of the system is 3' over a field of 1.5°. The detector is based on one described by Borkowski and Kopp, and is a two dimensional device that is capable of a spatial resolution of about one millimeter for photon energies exceeding 0.25 keV.