The Einstein Observatory (also known as HEAO-2 or HEAO-B) was operational from 1978 November 13 until 1981 April 25 when the attitude control system failed. The Solid State Spectrometer (SSS) was operated intermittently between 1978 December 1 and 1979 October 22. However, the cryogen cooling for the detector was used up by about 2 weeks prior to the date of this last observation, so that the last reliable observation of the SSS is considered to have occurred on 1979 October 03. The SSSRAW database accesses the raw SSS data (and the associated monitoring proportional counter, MPC, data), restored in FITS format at HEASARC from the original machine dependent format data set. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .

The HRIIMAGE database table contains information from the High Resolution Imager aboard HEAO 2, the Einstein Observatory. Einstein incorporated a high-resolution X-ray telescope and a focal plane assembly capable of positioning at its focus one of four instruments: a high-resolution imaging detector (HRI), a broader-field imaging proportional counter (HRI), a solid state spectrometer (SSS), and a Bragg crystal spectrometer (FPCS). Einstein (HEAO 2) was launched on November 13, 1978, and operated successfully until April 1981. One duplicate entry was removed from the HEASARC implementation of this catalog in June 2019. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .

The HRIPHOT database contains information from the High Resolution Imager aboard HEAO-2, the Einstein Observatory, in Event List Format. Einstein incorporated a high-resolution X-ray telescope and a focal plane assembly capable of positioning at its focus one of four instruments: a high- resolution imaging detector (HRI), a broader-field imaging proportional counter (IPC), a solid state spectrometer (SSS), and a Bragg crystal spectrometer (FPCS). Einstein (HEAO-2) was launched on November 13, 1978, and operated successfully until April 1981. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .

The X-ray sources from observations made with the Einstein Observatory (HEAO-2) Imaging Proportional Counter (IPC) that have intensities of 2-sigma or more above the background are compiled in this catalog. This catalog covers more sky at fainter flux levels than the Einstein Medium Sensitivity Survey. Fields with diffuse emission sources such as bright Abell clusters of galaxies and supernova remnants were excluded. Thus, data within 10 degrees of the galactic plane as well as fields within the boundaries of the Magellanic Clouds were excluded. Regions crowded with galactic sources such as the Orion and Pleiades fiels were also excluded. Excluding redundant fields, this catalog covers 1850 sq. degrees of the sky. The generation of the Einstein Two-Sigma Catalog was described in detail by Moran et al. (1996). Please read this article carefully to ensure responsible use of the Catalog. Detailed scientific and technical questions on the contents and methodology of this catalog should be addressed to the first author, Ed Moran (edhed@igpp.llnl.gov). In particular, it should be noted that, by design, this catalog contains a significant number of spurious sources: only 28%, or about 13,000 sources, out of the 46,000 source in the 2-sigma catalog are `real` astrophysical sources, with the remainder of the sources being spurious ones. Moran et al. show in their paper that performing cross-correlations of 2-sigma sources with other catalogs is an effective way of selecting sources in this catalog that are probably real. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .

A survey of the entire Einstein IPC database (a total of 5934 sources) has been carried out in order to select objects with strong components of ultrasoft X-ray emission (i.e., emission below 0.5 keV). The selection criteria were based on ratios of counts within three broad energy bands (i.e., X-ray "colors"). A total of 516 objects have been selected, with 202 (39%) having been identified through correlations with other databases. Of the currently identified objects, 45% are active galactic nuclei, 28% are stellar objects, 6% are "normal" galaxies and galaxy clusters, and the remaining 21% are "nonstellar" Galactic objects such as cataclysmic variables, pulsars, and white dwarfs. The selection of sources for this survey was based on the analysis of counts in three broad energy bands defined as C1=0.16-0.56 keV, C2=0.56-1.08 keV, and C3= 1.08-3.5 keV. Ratios of these three bands constituted X-ray 'colors' which in turn were used to estimate the shape of the spectrum over the IPC bandpass. Based on models of X-ray spectra folded through the IPC response function, the following criteria were determined for the selection of ultrasoft sources: C1>0 and R1=C2/C1<0.36. These criteria guarantee an intrinsically soft X-ray spectrum that can be modeled by blackbody temperatures kT<50 keV, power-law spectral indices of >=2, or thermal plasma temperatures T<1 MK (million K). Details of the data analysis can be found in the Thompson et al. (1998) reference. This database was created by the HEASARC in April 1999 based on tables provided by the catalog authors to the CDS/ADC. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .

This database table consists of a preliminary source list for the Einstein Observatory's High Resolution Imager (HRI). The source list, obtained from EINLINE, the Einstein On-line Service at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), contains basic information about the sources detected with the HRI. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .

The IPCIMAGE database contains information from the Imaging Proportional Counter aboard HEAO 2, the Einstein Observatory. Einstein incorporated a high-resolution X-ray telescope and a focal plane assembly capable of positioning at its focus one of four instruments: a high-resolution imaging detector (HRI), a broader-field imaging proportional counter (IPC), a solid state spectrometer (SSS), and a Bragg crystal spectrometer (FPCS). Einstein (HEAO 2) was launched on November 13, 1978, and operated successfully until April 1981. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .

The IPCPHOT database contains information from the Imaging Proportional Counter aboard HEAO-2, the Einstein Observatory, in Event List Format. Einstein incorporated a high-resolution X-ray telescope and a focal plane assembly capable of positioning at its focus one of four instruments: a high-resolution imaging detector (HRI), a broader-field imaging proportional counter (IPC), a solid state spectrometer (SSS), and a Bragg crystal spectrometer (FPCS). Einstein (HEAO-2) was launched on November 13, 1978, and operated successfully until April 1981. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .