Solid-state Slit Camera (SSC) on Board MAXI

TL;DR

The SSC on MAXI is an advanced X-ray camera with the largest detection area among its peers, capable of whole-sky imaging and monitoring in the 0.5-12 keV band, enabling detailed spectral analysis and sky surveys.

Contribution

This paper introduces the SSC instrument on MAXI, highlighting its large detection area, energy resolution, and capability for all-sky X-ray imaging and monitoring.

Findings

Largest detection area among X-ray missions

Able to produce whole-sky images with spectral resolution

First to monitor the entire sky in < 2 keV band in decades

Abstract

Solid-state Slit Camera (SSC) is an X-ray camera onboard the MAXI mission of the International Space Station. Two sets of SSC sensors view X-ray sky using charge-coupled devices (CCDs) in 0.5--12\,keV band. The total area for the X-ray detection is about 200\,cm$\rm ^2$ which is the largest among the missions of X-ray astronomy. The energy resolution at the CCD temperature of $-$70 \degc is 145\,eV in full width at the half maximum (FWHM) at 5.9\,keV, and the field of view is 1\deg .5 (FWHM) $\times$ 90\deg for each sensor. The SSC could make a whole-sky image with the energy resolution good enough to resolve line emissions, and monitor the whole-sky at the energy band of $<$ 2\,keV for the first time in these decades.