Download and Access the LAXPC data

LAXPC (Large Area X-ray Proportional Counter) is an X-ray instrument on board the Indian astronomy satellite AstroSat, designed to study the temporal and spectral properties of X-ray sources in the 3-80 keV energy range. To access LAXPC data, you need to follow a few steps:

• Download the observation data from astrobrowser portal. For the test example, we are analysing data of black hole X-ray binary source GRS 1915+105 for orbit no. 08120.
• Next, copy the dataset into a new folder and open it.
• Unzip the level1 data using the command:

$ unzip LEVL1AS1LXP20170328G06_033T01_9000001116_08120.zip

This will create a folder called G06_033T01_9000001116_08120, which contains the observation data.

• Create a directory in your home folder called ‘Analysis’ and navigate to the folder using commands:

$ mkdir Analysis
$ cd /home/path/Analysis

Before we begin, please note that this tutorial assumes that you have already installed the LAXPC software available at ASSC webpage and have a basic understanding of the LAXPC data format.

• Set the path of laxpc level1 data in Analysis folder with variable $LAXPCDATAPATH.

$ export LAXPCDATAPATH="/home/path/data/laxpc/"

• Initialize HEASoft using the command:

$ heainit