18th IACHEC meeting, 20-23 April 2026
Meeting Scope
The IACHEC project is an international collaboration between missions to establish standards for high-energy calibration and to oversee cross-calibration between observatories. These objectives are achieved through dedicated working groups in which IACHEC members collaborate to define common calibration standards and procedures. The focus of these groups is to coordinate and standardize analyses of reference sources—so-called “high-energy standard candles”—to produce well-defined datasets and results that are published and serve as calibration references for past, current, and future high-energy missions.
The goal of the IACHEC is to optimize the scientific value of current missions by improving cross-calibration among existing instruments, developing new standards for analysis, promoting appropriate statistical methods for interpreting results, and optimizing calibration plans for future missions.
The meeting will cover mission-specific updates, a special session on ground calibration of large segmented optics, and working-group sessions including two new working groups on ground facility cross calibration and science operations. The meeting will finish with a summary of the working group goals for the coming year.
Venue
The 18th IACHEC meeting will be held at the Hotel Seeblick (https://www.hotel-seeblick-pelham.de/), located in Pelham at the Pelhamer See in Bavaria, Germany. The meeting will start on Sunday, 19 April, with the reception. The contributed sessions will run from Monday morning, April 20th, through Thursday afternoon (5pm), April 23rd. All meals will be taken together and provided at the hotel. Any dietary restrictions should be entered in the ‘General Comments’ box during registration. Space at the hotel is limited, so please register as early as possible.
Logistics
If you would like to find or offer a ride share please fill out your details in the google sheet below. MPE will also be organizing a rideshare opportunity for a larger group if they arrive around the same time.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hTaeZLWxp1tH_EJa9hm12-oPGm2IuMnj8-l-a0ZQ1DQ/edit?usp=sharing
For those who want to use public transport, we will be providing direction for arriving at the venue by train and bus shortly.
Registration
Registration is now closed
The cost of the meeting is 745 EUR for 5 nights of room and board. Payment will be made directly with the hotel at the time of the meeting.
Monday 20 April
Tuesday 21 April
Wednesday 22 April
Thursday 23 April
Session 5: eROSITA and Chandra | Chair: Brian Grefenstette | |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00 – 9:20 | Stacking sources to improve the eROSITA in-flight calibration | Jeremy Sanders |
| 9:20 – 9:40 | Behind the scenes of eROSITA: how we transmit the data | Konrad Dennerl |
| 9:40 – 10:00 | ACIS Gain Results using Astrophysical Sources | Nick Durham |
| 10:00 – 10:20 | Status of the Chandra ACIS Response Width Calibration at Warmer Temperatures | Terry Gaetz |
| 10:20 – 10:40 | Insight-HXMT/ME payload: Calibration Status and Performance Evolution | Ying Tan |
| ——————- | ||
| 10:40 – 11:10 | Coffee Break | |
| ——————- | ||
Session 6 | Chair: Steve Sembay | |
| 11:10 – 11:30 | Refinements to Hard X-ray Spectroscopy with AstroSat CZTI | Mithun NPS |
| 11:30 – 11:50 | Current status of XRISM/Xtend Transient Search | Marina Yoshimoto |
| 11:50 – 12:20 | WD and INS WG discussion | Vadim Burwitz |
| ——————- | ||
| 12:30 – 14:00 | Lunch | |
| ——————- | ||
Contamination WG | ||
| 14:00 – 14:20 | Adjustments to the Chandra Contamination Model | Herman Marshall |
| 14:20 – 14:40 | Contamination discussion | Herman Marshall |
| ——————- | ||
Working Group Summaries | ||
| 14:40-14:50 | Cluster of Galaxies WG | Eric Miller |
| 14:50-15:00 | Detectors and Background WG | Catherine Grant |
| 15:00-15:10 | Non-thermal SNR WG | Lorenzo Natalucci |
| 15:10-15:20 | Thermal SNR WG | Paul Plucinsky |
| 15:20-15:30 | Mission and Science Operations WG | Felix Fuerst |
| 15:30-15:40 | Ground Calibration WG | Vadim Butwitz |
| 15:40-15:50 | Timing WG | Megumi Shidatsu |
| 15:50-16:00 | Calibration Statistics WG | Vinay Kashyap |
| ——————- | ||
| 16:00 – 16:30 | Coffee Break | |
| ——————- | ||
| 16:30 | Closing Remarks | Kristin Madsen |
| ——————- | ||
| 18:30 | Dinner | |
| ——————- |
Friday 24 April
| Breakfast included | |
|---|---|
| Trip to Panter can be organized. Leaving at 9:30. Talk to Vadim. |
Contact
For questions about abstracts and the program contact meetings@iachec.org
For questions about the hotel and lodging please contact: birgit.boller@mpe.mpg.de
If a letter of invitation is required for visa applications, please contact Vadim Burwitz and Birgit Boller:burwitz@mpe.mpg.de,birgit.boller@mpe.mpg.de
LOC
- Vadim Burwitz, MPE
- Birgit Boller, MPE
- Kristin K. Madsen, GSFC
Sponsors