XMM Users' Handbook

   
A comparison of XMM vs. AXAF

The basic difference in instrument operation between XMM and AXAF is that on XMM all instruments, unless prohibited by constraints (§ 4.2), operate simultaneously, while science instruments on AXAF are alternated.

Several plots have already been shown above comparing the characteristics of XMM's science instruments with those of AXAF, namely:

• Mirror effective area: Figs. 10 and 11.

• Imaging effective area: Fig. 22 and Fig. 23.

A few more examples are collected here.