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Rearranged the statement of need section, I think the changes are done!
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Signed-off-by: David Turner <[email protected]>
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DavidT3 committed Sep 6, 2024
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Expand Up @@ -64,23 +64,7 @@ will be vital to the continuation of X-ray astronomy.

# Statement of need
X-ray observations provide a powerful view of some of the most extreme processes in the Universe, and have had a
profound impact on our understanding of many types of astrophysical objects. As such, access to X-ray data should be
made as simple as possible, both for X-ray experts and non-specialists whose research benefits from a high-energy
view; organisations such as the European Space Agency (ESA) and the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research
Center (HEASARC) have gone to great lengths to enable this access, and our software builds on their success.
Through [Daxa]{.smallcaps}, most X-ray observatory archives are accessible through a single unified interface
available in a programming language that is ubiquitous in astronomy (Python); locally searching for data relevant
to a particular sample gives us the opportunity to better record and share the exact search parameters, through a
Jupyter notebook for instance. X-ray data can also be particularly intimidating to those astronomers who have not
used it before, which acts as a barrier to entry, undermining the open-source nature of X-ray astronomy data, and
limiting the reach and scientific impact of X-ray telescopes; it is in our interest to maximise the use of these
data, both to support X-ray astronomy through the `X-ray desert', and to persuade funding bodies of the great need for
further X-ray telescopes. Our solution is to provide a normalised interface to different backend software
packages (some of which can be difficult for new users), allowing for the easy processing of X-ray data to a
scientifically useful state; this is in addition to the ability to download pre-processed data from many of the
data archives.

![A flowchart giving a brief overview of the [Daxa]{.smallcaps} workflow. We indicate the different ways that [Daxa]{.smallcaps} can be used to access, process, and use archival X-ray data. \label{fig:flowchart}](figures/daxa_paper_flowchart.pdf)
profound impact on our understanding of many types of astrophysical objects.

Every sub-field of astronomy, astrophysics, and cosmology has benefited significantly from X-ray coverage over
the last three decades; the observation of X-ray cavities in galaxy clusters caused by central AGN helped to shed light
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -113,6 +97,25 @@ enable the maximum use of existing X-ray archives, to traverse the X-ray desert
are fully prepared for future X-ray telescopes such as _Athena_ [@athena] and _Lynx_ [@lynx]. Having easy access to
the whole X-ray observation history of an object can provide valuable astrophysical context at little extra cost.


![A flowchart giving a brief overview of the [Daxa]{.smallcaps} workflow. We indicate the different ways that [Daxa]{.smallcaps} can be used to access, process, and use archival X-ray data. \label{fig:flowchart}](figures/daxa_paper_flowchart.pdf)

As such, X-ray data should be made as accessible as possible, both for X-ray experts and non-specialists who may
face barriers to entry; X-ray data can be particularly intimidating to those astronomers who have not used it
before, though their research may benefit from a high-energy view. Difficulty of use undermines the open-source nature
of X-ray astronomy data, which organisations such as the European Space Agency (ESA) and the High Energy Astrophysics
Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC) have gone to great lengths to build. This may limit the reach and scientific
impact of X-ray telescopes; we should seek to maximise the user of X-ray data, both to support X-ray astronomy
through the `X-ray desert', and to persuade funding bodies of the great need for further X-ray telescopes.

We build on ESA and HEASARC's success and make the data more accessible by providing a normalised interface to
different backend software packages and datasets, allowing for the easy processing of X-ray data to a scientifically
useful state; this is in addition to the ability to download pre-processed data from many of the data archives.
Through [Daxa]{.smallcaps}, most X-ray observatory archives are accessible through a single unified interface
available in a programming language that is ubiquitous in astronomy (Python); locally searching for data relevant
to a particular sample gives us the opportunity to better record and share the exact search parameters, through a
Jupyter notebook for instance.

[^*]: [email protected]

# Features
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