What is SOXS?

SOXS is a software suite which can create simulated X-ray observations of astrophysical sources with almost any existing or planned X-ray observatory. The goal of SOXS is to provide a comprehensive set of tools to design source models and convolve them with simulated models of X-ray instruments. This package was originally developed to support the Lynx X-ray Observatory mission concept, but has evolved to support other missions as well.

There are two main entry points to SOXS: a command-line interface, and a Python interface. The former is simpler to use, but the latter has more power and flexibility. Both of these entry points are extensively documented with examples.

Installing SOXS

SOXS and its dependencies are installed as a standard Python package, and it is compatible with Python 3.9 or later. You may use pip to install it (if you do not have pip, check that your executable is not named pip3, otherwise visit https://pip.pypa.io/ to download it):

[~]$ pip install soxs

If the Python distribution is not "owned" by you on your machine you might have to call sudo pip install soxs. If you need to upgrade from a previous version of SOXS, issue [sudo] pip install -U soxs from the command line.

If you use Anaconda Python, you may install SOXS using conda:

[~]$ conda install -c conda-forge soxs

These methods install both the Python interface and the command-line scripts.

Alternatively, to install into your Python distribution from source:

[~]$ pip install .

Getting Help

There are a number of ways to get help with SOXS.

Documentation

Documentation for SOXS lives at https://hea-www.cfa.harvard.edu/soxs.

Mailing List

There's a Google Group to get help on SOXS and discuss related matters.

GitHub Issues Page

If you have a specific code issue that seems like a bug or have a feature or enhancement request, the best place to note it is on the GitHub issues page so that we can keep track of it.