NuSTAR Master Catalog: High-Energy X-Ray Telescope Observations

The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission, launched on 2012 June 13, is the first focusing high-energy X-ray telescope in orbit. This catalog from NASA HEASARC lists planned and validated observations from the telescope, which operates in the 3 to 79 keV energy band. The table is automatically updated and includes information on observation status and public data availability.

Use Cases

• Identify and schedule observations of high-energy astrophysical targets based on the catalog's list of accepted and planned observations.
• Study the extreme physics around compact objects based on NuSTAR's sensitivity and spectral resolution mentioned in the description.
• Analyze temporal patterns in solar micro-flares using the mission's response to targets of opportunity.
• Filter for publicly available observational data using the public_date parameter described in the metadata.

Strengths

• Data originates from the first focusing high-energy X-ray telescope in orbit, offering more than a 100-fold improvement in sensitivity over previous instruments in its bandpass.
• Catalog is automatically updated on a regular basis by the NuSTAR Project at Caltech and provided by NASA HEASARC.
• Includes metadata fields (e.g., public_date, status) to determine data availability and observation planning status.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale analysis.
• Data availability is conditional; only observations with a past public_date have data publicly available.

Provenance

Source

NuSTAR Project at Caltech, provided by NASA HEASARC.

Collection Method

Information supplied by the NuSTAR Project and automatically updated.

Time Range

Observations from the mission's start in 2012 onward; the mission has an expected orbit lifetime of more than 10 years.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 20:14:46.543374; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Celestial targets observed from a 600-km altitude, 6-degree inclination circular orbit.