SOHO SPWG Minutes



SPWG FINAL MINUTES
Friday 29 Sep 2006



1. Boundary conditions



a) Orbit, attitude and manoeuvres

- SOHO is currently right side up

- manoeuvres

  Dec 5         roll, stationkeeping and momentum management (timing TBC)


b) Communications with the spacecraft

  Graphical DSN schedule: http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/soc/dsn/

  Madrid 70 m antenna is scheduled to be operational again as of 
  2 Jan 2007, possibly even earlier.

* Nov 24-Dec 11 26 m keyhole

* Nov 27-Dec 8  34 m keyhole

- The need and approach to reduce FOT manpower requirements needed for
  complex operations during the keyhole remains in effect also for the
  December keyhole.

- Earliest STEREO launch date has been confirmed to be 25 Oct 2006.  The
  launch (including possible further delays), initial operations and
  commissioning requirements may severely impact available DSN coverage for
  SOHO's December keyhole.  The DSN plan for up to and including week 44 is
  expectd to be finalised by 15 Oct.

  All available keyhole information is at
  http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/soc/keyholes.html


c) KNOWN submode dependent activities/submode changes:

* TOO           JOP153/MMOP003 Future Major Flare Watch (SM5 if SUMER
                observes target, SM6 otherwise)
* TOO           JOP175 Extended Filaments at the Limb (see sect. 2a), SM6
* Oct 18,25     EIT Shutterless #25, SM6, TBC
* Nov 8-17      SUMER campaign, SM5
* Nov 8         Transit of Mercury, SM5/6
* Nov 24-Dec 11 26 m Keyhole (Nov 27-Dec 08 34 m Keyhole), SM5/6
* Mar 13-Apr 30 SUMER/Hinode campaign, SUMER/EIS
* May 1-14      SOHO/STEREO campaign, EIT/SECCHI (dates TBC after Hinode 
                commissioning)

- Some of the default SUMER campaign dates overlap with keyholes -
  which is not a problem in itself (submode 5 will often be needed for
  keyholes anyhow) as long as potential periods of no SUMER data
  between passes can be accepted.

- SUMER plans an engineering campaign November 8-17 and joint observations
  with Hinode/EIS (see section 2a).  Detector testing will be performed.
  Communication with S/C experts has shown 'baking' of the detector
  electronics is possible.

- EIT will support JOP 159 with 304  observations only in the week before
  bakeouts.  STEREO SECCHI EUVI should supersede the need for EIT
  observations of this type.

  According to EIT the Mercury transit observations can be carried out in
  either submode 5 or 6.  EIT can only observe in one wavelength if NRT is
  not available throughout the transit observations.  Since SUMER does not
  plan to observe the transit (section 2a), higher-resolution observations
  are possible for EIT and required submode change timings need to be
  agreed upon.  FDF has provided the observational geometry data (see
  section 2).

- Except for Major Flare Watches, TRACE will be doing full disk
  mosaics if/when EIT is not able to do synoptic sets due to keyhole
  operations.


d) Instrument maintenance activities

- EIT Bakeout for the December keyhole, timing TBD

- TRACE will anneal the week beginning 09 Oct.


e) Others

- TRACE eclipses

* Sep 22-Mar 1  TRACE winter eclipse season

  Hard eclipses are scheduled to start Oct 6th, but TRACE is already in an
  Atmospheric Absorption Zone period.


2. Priorities for the coming month and more



a) Joint observing plans and campaigns

Continuing campaigns:

* 2002/02/25--  JOP136 Default RHESSI Collaborations (#6850),
                POC: Tero Siili
* 2002/04/25--  JOP159 CMEs in Lyman-alpha (#6870), SWAN/LASCO/EIT/UVCS,
                POC: Chris St Cyr, Eric Quemerais
* 2003/05/13--  Default CDS Co-observations with TRACE (#6950)
* 2003/07/01--  Network-Internetwork Oscillations (#7033), EIT/TRACE,
                POC: Scott McIntosh
* 2004/02/19--  JOP175 Extended Filaments at the Limb (#7135), 
                EIT/TRACE/LASCO/UVCS,
                POC: Chris St Cyr (Chris.StCyr@nasa.gov)
* 2005/09/20--  JOP153/MMOP003 Future Major Flare Watch (#8006)

  Campaign #6850 is for "individual instrument studies" selecting an
  AR target [partially] influenced by the Max Millennium target
  selection to maximise chances of serendipitous co-observations.

  EIT supports all with half/full-res 195 A CME watch in submode 5/6,
  except JOP175 getting half/full-res 304 A CME watch in submode 5/6, and
  Network-Internetwork Oscillations which is TBD by Scott McIntosh.  As
  long as the spacecraft is in submode 6, all EIT CME watch will be in full
  res.  Major Flare Watches will be in full-res even if it requires a
  submode change, unless the target is observed by SUMER.

  The relevance and continuation (whether the originators have
  enough/alternate data) of these campaigns (except perhaps for RHESSI)
  will be reviewed in the second half of October.


* Sep 23        Solar B/Hinode launch

  Successful launch and the spacecraft renamed "Hinode" for "Sunrise" in
  Japanese.

  Initial science observations (including some MDI, TRACE and possibly
  STEREO collaborations) are tentatively scheduled to begin approximately
  45 d after the launch, i.e. in late November - early December
  (http://solar-b.nao.ac.jp/operation_e/initial_e.shtml).

  TRACE will give top priority to Hinode's Solar Optical Telescope (SOT)
  coordinations as of 25 Oct.


* Sep 27-Oct 6  Propagation of Low Frequency Waves & Spicule Formation, 
                  MDI/TRACE/SSO, POC: Bart DePontieu, TBC

  MDI has requested extra DSN coverage for 08-18 UTC. The DSN schedule for
  this period has coverage periods on every day during the requested 08-18
  UTC interval.  MDI default observation plan is high resolution
  magnetograms, dopplergrams and filtergrams (or some combination of the
  three). MDI is currently supporting La Palma.

  TRACE is supporting this request (TBC).  


* Oct 11-15     MDI Continuous Contact

  No plans yet, default plan is full-disk magnetograms and
  dopplergrams.


* Oct 18        EIT Shutterless #25, 19:00-21:40 UT, EIT/CDS/TRACE/MDI, 
                  POC: Susanna Parenti

  DSN schedule for SOHO for this time frame has not been built yet.


* Oct 18-Nov 1 Mars and Venus Express Solar Conjunction, 
                 UVCS/MEx/VEx/LASCO(TBC)/EIT(TBC), POC: Mari Paz Miralles

  North coronal hole pass.

  Joint UVCS and Faraday rotation measurements planned.  LASCO and EIT
  participation also requested.


* Oct 24        Dual sounding rocket launch for CELIAS/SEM, TIMED/SEE
                  and SDO/EVE cross-calibration, CELIAS/TRACE/TIMED/SDO,
                  POC: Andrew Jones, TBC

  Most up-to-date and detailed information on the launches (e.g.,
  instrument characteristics, launch windows) can be found at
  http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~arjones/rockets/OCT_06/SOHO-TIMED.html.

  This is an expanded repeat of 2005 Aug CELIAS/SEM calibration flight.
  The current best guess at launch times is:

  36.233US Oct. 24, 2006 at 18:28 UTC. (TIMED/SEE and SDO-EVE instruments)
  36.236US Oct. 24, 2006 at 20:05 UTC. (SOHO/SEM  instrument)

  Backup flight dates are 25-27 Oct (TBC).

  Request is for going to record for approximatly 10 min even if SOHO is
  in contact.  MDI is OK with this.

  TRACE would like to participate and has contacted the POC. TRACE has
  provided some rough estimates of our radiation periods for the time of
  the launch.

  CDS will run a full-disk spectral atlas (USUN).


* Oct 25        STEREO launch (TBC)

  Oct 25 is the confirmed EARLIEST launch date.  Second stage tank issues
  have been satisfactorily cleared


* Oct 25        EIT Shutterless #25, 19:00-21:40 UT, EIT/CDS/TRACE/MDI, 
                  POC: Susanna Parenti

  DSN schedule for SOHO for this time frame has not been built yet.


* Nov 8-Dec 17  SUMER Campaign, SUMER/EIS, POC: Werner Curdt (TBC)

  Detector testing will be done Nov 8-17.  See section 1c.  A more detailed
  testing plan has been provided by the SUMER team to the SOCs.

  If Hinode commissioning and the SUMER engineering activities allow, SUMER
  will try to run some co-observations with EIS. SUMER team will not
  prepare a detailed plan for this, but will react and decide on short
  notice.


* Nov 8         Mercury Transit

  The Mercury transit in November will be seen by SOHO. The SOHO visibility
  information received from FDF on 14 Jul 2006 - i.e., the ingress,
  greatest transit, and egress points - are summarized below:

  The angular radius of the Sun as seen from SOHO will be 0.27137 deg, the
  lowest SOHO/Sun/Mercury angle will be 0.1153 deg.

  Ingress:
  I. (just touching outside) = 2006/11/08 20:09:32 UTC
  II. (just touching inside) = 2006/11/08 20:11:23 UTC

  Greatest Transit (closest approach of the centers): 2006/11/08  22:38:43 UTC
  This separation is 413.978 arc-sec

  Egress:
  III. (just touching inside)  = 2006/11/09 01:06:08 UTC
  IV. (just touching outside) = 2006/11/09 01:07:59 UTC

  Finally, Transit Total Duration: 4 h 58 min 27 s

  The FDF-provided data for the transit in 5 min increments can be found at
  http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/soc/transits/mercury/20061108/ in HTML,
  text and Excel formats.

  All values above and in the spreadsheet are with respect to SOHO.

  For summary information on the view from Earth, see
  http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/OH/image1/TM2006Nov08-Fig1.GIF.

  EIT will observe the transit, but can only observe in one wavelength if
  NRT is not available throughout the transit observations.

  LASCO to observe Mercury through C3 and C2 fields.  TBC.

  MDI can observe the transit and requests SOHO not to be in record.
  Obtaining observations of the November 2006 Mercury transit is extremely
  important to MDI, specifically for solar radius measurements.  The only
  other Mercury transit MDI has observed is the 2003 transit and the next
  Mercury transit won't be until 2016 (there will be a Venus transit in
  2012, but that is also rather far into the future...).  It is imperative
  that MDI get high rate observing for the entire transit and for a few
  hours on either side.  Knowledge on the status on the DSN schedule for
  the transit (whether enough DSN been requested for MDI to be in VC2 for
  ~10 h?).  MDI wants VC2 for the entire transit period (4 h 58 min 27 s)
  and for a few hours on either side.

  TRACE will be supporting with observation for Jay Pasachoff.  The transit
  occurs, however, during TRACE's eclipse season (see section 1e), hence
  support will depend on the exact timing and possible coincidence of the
  transit and a TRACE eclipse.

  CDS plans are under consideration, based on the 2003 transit.

  No SUMER observations planned during Mercury transit.

  The SOCs have requested that SOHO is in contact during the transit, i.e.,
  that SOHO has a baseline and backup DSN stations available.  DSN schedule
  for the transit period is expected to be available during the week
  beginning 16 Oct.  STEREO launch or even slight slipping thereof may
  impact the DSN availability at and around the transit time.

  Any updates on the FDF-provided information will be
  relayed to the instrument teams as soon as it becomes available.

  STEREO has expressed interest in also observing the transit and a JOP is
  being planned.



* Nov 8-12      MDI Continuous Contact

  Default plan is 1-min cadence, full disk magnetograms and dopplergrams.



* Dec 19-25    Ulysses-SOHO Quadrature Observations, UVCS/CDS(TBC),
                 POC: Giannina Poletto

  The quadrature period extends until May 19, 2007.

  UVCS will encourage the lead observers to take advantage of the
  Ulysses-SOHO quadrature beginning this December when planning observation
  programs.  UVCS will schedule extra observation time devoted to this
  quadrature and said schedule will be made available to the SOHO SOCs.  A
  document from Steve Suess and Giannina Poletto discussing the
  Ulysses-SOHO quadrature geometry is available from Michael Uzzo and also
  at http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/soc/UlyPosAng2007-2008.pdf.

  CDS support will be considered.


* Jan 5-7       MDI Continuous Contact

  Current default plan is full-disk magnetograms and dopplergrams.


* Feb 2-4       MDI Continuous Contact

  Current default plan is full-disk magnetograms and dopplergrams.


* Mar 13-Apr 30 SUMER/Hinode campaign, SUMER/EIS, POC: Werner Curdt (TBC)

  Dates will be confirmed after Hinode commissioning.


* Mar 28-Apr 1  MDI Continuous Contact

  Current default plan is full-disk magnetograms and dopplergrams.


* May 1-14      SOHO/STEREO campaign, EIT/SECCHI

  STEREO SECCHI prefers EIT to be obtaining full-resolution images, hence
  the SUMER/EIS campaign will take place already in March to avoid
  EIT/SUMER submode conflict.

  EIT science planner for that period still TBD (for some months).  Simon
  can contact Kevin and Joe in the meantime.


b) Intercalibration activities

  Last Intercal 1: 20 September 2006

* 17-21 October ICAL01 (#7113), CDS/EIT, TBC

  11 Oct has also been suggested.

  Details and confirmation will be determined by the planners.

  Future ICALs are TBD. EIT: ICALs are OK except during the weeks of
  shutterless or of the Mercury transit.



c) Individual instrument plans


MDI:

  See section 2a for MDI continuous contact periods.

  MDI may reduce the ALT cadence during Keyholes to be less than 15 ALT
  magnetograms per day if the lack of high rate telemetry is such that we
  will lose all or almost all of the 15 ALT Magnetograms each day.  The ALT
  cadence will be decided on an individual Keyhole basis and even a daily
  basis during each Keyhole depending on the 70 m antenna availability at
  the time.  MDI may also downlink select magnetograms in the 5 kbps
  telemetry if no 70 m passes are available at least every 2 days for Mag
  dump in the 160 kbps telemetry.

  All requests for MDI support need to be made several months ahead of time
  and sent to mdi-ops(at)mdisas.nascom.nasa.gov.  Even outside keyholes,
  MDI can only do 1-minute cadence observations when we have contact and
  there is no recorder dump in progress.

  MDI's REQUEST page is at http://mdisas.nascom.nasa.gov/coordination.txt
  NOTE: Listing of a study on that page means *only* that a request has
  been received, not that it will necessarily be supported.

  A description of MDI Observing Modes most used for JOPs and campaigns (FD
  vs.  HR) can be found at http://mdisas.nascom.nasa.gov/Collaborate.
  Anyone requesting MDI observations is encouraged to read this page in
  order to have a better idea of what observing modes would be best suited
  for a particular study.  More detailed information about how MDI
  operates, observational constraints and telemetry information can be
  found at http://mdisas.nascom.nasa.gov/MDI_Collaboration_Details.

  MDI is now in FOC4 for better focus for high resolution observing.  We
  will stay with this focus setting at least until November 2.


UVCS:

  We have been using the LyA detector for some observations and will keep
  planning so when appropriate.

  For weekly plans, see the SOHO calendar and the UVCS planning page:
  http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/uvcs/observations/obst.html.

  See also the Exceptional Ulysses Quadrature (19-25 Dec 2006 and onwards
  to May 2007) as well as the MEx/VEx conjunction in section 2a.


CDS:

  For details see http://solar.bnsc.rl.ac.uk/scientificops/request.shtml.

  From mid-December 2006, CDS will begin an extensive programme of
  observations in support of the first 90 days of Hinode science
  operations.  CDS detailed plan TBD.


LASCO/EIT:

  LASCO reduced exposure for Mercury pre and post the transit.  TBC.


SUMER:

  See sections 1c and 2a.


TRACE:

  NASA has announced that it plans to continue funding of TRACE operations
  at close to the FY06 level through FY08, followed by a significant
  ramping down of operations into FY09.

  NOTE that TRACE in general reserves the right to withdraw support from
  agreed, existing collaborations if a sufficiently "good active region" is
  called by the Max Millennium group.

  TRACE will anneal the week beginning 09 Oct.


3. Any other business




* Next SPWG:

  Fri 27 Oct after Daily & Weekly meetings.


The rest are FYI items:

* If anyone has projects that require high rate (i.e. 1 minute cadence) MDI
  support, now is a good time to ask!  If you need MDI data, make sure you
  request it specifically.  There is no significant change in the shutter
  performance over the last 10 months; monitoring continues, but no
  immediate changes in operations are planned.

* DSN support should be requested at least 6 months in advance.  Keep this
  in mind for: ground-based collaborations that require MDI support,
  stellar/shutterless observations that require NRT, etc.

* Future Mercury and Venus transits: SOC is requesting the Flight Dynamics
  Facility (FDF) to provide estimates and data for not only disk, but also
  for coronal transits.  For this purpose FDF needs a criterion
  (radial/angular distance from Solar disk centre) to define the coronal
  transits.  Currently FDF has been instructed to use
  SOHO/Sun/[Mercury,Venus] angle of (35 arcmin (from centre of Solar disk)
  as criterion.  Instrument teams are requested to provide the SOC with
  information on whether a larger angle is applicable.