SPWG DRAFT MINUTES Friday 29 September 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. - STEREO launch date remains TBC (section 2 below) and the lanch and initial operations and commissioning requirements may severely impact available DSN coverage for SOHO's December keyhole. 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 1-Dec 15 SUMER Campaign, SM5, possibly just Nov 8-17 * 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/Solar-B 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 Solar-B/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. From Joe Gurman: perhaps it's about time to consider all these (except perhaps for RHESSI) to consider whether the originators have enough/alternate data. * 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 18,25 EIT Shutterless #25, TBC Shutterless #25 still TBC. 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, POC Mari Paz Miralles North coronal hole pass. Joint UVCS and Faraday rotation measurements planned. LASCO and EIT participation also requested. * Oct 23 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 24-27 Oct. 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). --> #CELIAS - changes, comments? * Oct 25-Nov 2 Facular Irradiance Characteristics: Sunspot Penumbral Filament and/or Light-Bridge Dynamics, MDI/TRACE/SSO, POC: Tom Berger, TBC This collaboration/coordination has been cancelled for this time frame and postponed to 2007. * Oct 25 STEREO launch (TBC) Oct 25 is the currently known earliest launch date. Although second stage tank issues have been satisfactorily cleared, DSN coverage issues for the launch period remain and the launch date may be moved/postponed again. A meeting on the issue will be held on 26 Sep and a decision is expected soon thereafter. * Nov 1-Dec 15 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 SOLAR-B is in orbit and if the 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 up to 12 Nov is expected to be available on 25 Sep or shortly thereafter. Also, 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. --> #LASCO - changes, comments? * Nov 8-12 MDI Continuous Contact Default plan is 1-min cadence, full disk magnetograms and dopplergrams. * Dec 19->2007 Exceptional Ulysses Quadrature (ends 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/Solar-B campaign, SUMER/EIS, POC: Werner Curdt (TBC) Dates will be confirmed after Hinode/Solar-B commissioning. --> #ALL - other supports, participations? * 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. --> #ALL - other supports, participations? 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 (Dec 2006 -)) and 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 Solar-B science operations. CDS detailed plan TBD. LASCO/EIT: LASCO reduced exposure for Mercury pre and post the transit. TBC. --> #LASCO - changes, comments? 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. MDI is ok with 28 Oct 2006. There will be no TRACE rep available for this date 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.