The XMM-Newton serendipitous source catalogue

This paper describes the approach taken to the produc- tion of the catalogue and an overview of its main properties together with some comments on its scientific potential. It should be stressed that we are describing here the first installment of the catalogue; further releases are planned as the constituent observations become public. The catalogue is not yet complete; we are aiming for release by the end of 2002. The description provided here thus relates to the “working” version from which the catalogue will be extracted once the full range of checks on integrity and quality have been com- pleted. Nevertheless the catalogue project is at a sufficiently mature stage for the current version to be reasonably representative.