SPWG DRAFT MINUTES Friday 27 October 2006 Last modified by T. Siili on 26 Oct 2006 at 21:30 UTC 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. 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 * 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 A 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. --> #SUMER - changes, comments? d) Instrument maintenance activities - EIT Bakeout for the December keyhole, timing TBD - will be announced as soon as the DSN schedule information is available. e) Others - TRACE eclipses * Oct 5-Mar 1 TRACE winter (hard) eclipse season 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 * 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) is under review and the decisions will be provided at this or the next SPWG meeting. * Oct 10-Nov 5 Mars and Venus Express Solar Conjunction, UVCS/MEx/VEx/LASCO/EIT, POC: Mari Paz Miralles North coronal hole pass. LASCO continues to observe in full field and high cadence subfield blocks. * Oct 25 STEREO launch STEREO was successfully launched Wednesday 26 Oct 2006 at 00:52 UTC (25 Oct 2006 at 20:52 EDT). * Oct 25 EIT Shutterless #25, 19:00-21:40 UT, EIT/CDS/TRACE/MDI, POC: Susanna Parenti Main target north polar coronal hole. MDI: full-disk magnetograms and dopplergrams. * Oct 28 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 information on the launch times is: 36.233US Oct. 28, 2006 at 17:58 UTC. (TIMED/SEE and SDO-EVE instruments) 36.236US Oct. 28, 2006 at 18:28 UTC. (SOHO/SEM instrument) Backup flight date is 29 Oct (TBC), when there are primary and secondary launch windows: Primary: 36.233US at 18:15 UTC, 36.236US at 18:45 UTC Secondary: 36.233US at 19:52 UTC, 36.236US at either 19:22 UTC or 20:22 UTC During the time of the primary 29 Oct window SOHO will not be in contact. The time of the secondary window is, however, during the early part of a DSS-27 pass. The pass begins at 19:15 UTC (Beginning-of-Track). If the launch ends up taking place during Sunday's secondary launch window, the current plan (TBC) is for SOHO to be on record from the beginning of the DSS-27 pass to the end of the rocket's mission, followed by VC2 and SSR dump. TRACE will support the launch if it takes place on 28 Oct. Launch shift to Sunday 29 Oct will most likely not be accommodated, however. CDS will run a full-disk spectral atlas (USUN) on Oct 28-29. --> #CELIAS - changes, comments? * 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. Based on current DSN schedule, EIT plans to observe the transit in all four wavelengths, between 2006/11/08 18:45 UT and 2006/11/09 02:20 UT. LASCO to observe Mercury through C3 and C2 fields. TBC. MDI can observe the transit and requests SOHO not to be in record. MDI plans to observe the entire transit and requests that the FOT stay in VC2 (except during handovers). 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. Current predicts show that TRACE will likely be able to see the transit. CDS plans are under consideration, based on the 2003 transit. The CDS sequence will be tested on the week beginning 30 Oct. No SUMER observations planned during Mercury transit. We will stay in Submode 6 until 06 UT on November 9. 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. The DSN schedule as it stands now for the transit is: DSS-27 1255-2320 DSS-46 2300-0535 Any updates on the FDF-provided information will be relayed to the instrument teams as soon as it becomes available. * Nov 8-12 MDI Continuous Contact Default plan is 1-min cadence, full disk magnetograms and dopplergrams. MDI will be in best focus for full disk observing at this time (change from FOC4 to FOC5). * Nov 8-Dec 17 SUMER Campaign, SUMER/EIS, POC: Werner Curdt 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. We will be in Submode 6 until 06 UT on November 9 - consequently the detector testing might not effectively begin until Nov 9. We will go back to Submode 6 after the SUMER campaign is over, timing TBD. --> #SUMER - changes, comments? * Dec 19-25 Ulysses-SOHO Quadrature Observations, UVCS/CDS(TBC)/LASCO(TBC)/STELKab, 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. The quadrature angle will be P.A.=196 during that time (SW limb; the position angle corresponds to 74 degrees south of the equator at the west limb). LASCO will provide full field pB images for this campaign. CDS support will be considered. * Jan 5-7 MDI Continuous Contact Current default plan is full-disk magnetograms and dopplergrams. * Jan 17/24 EIT Shutterless #26, EIT (TBD) * 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. --> #SUMER - changes, comments? * Mar 28-Apr 1 MDI Continuous Contact Current default plan is full-disk magnetograms and dopplergrams. * Apr 25-29 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. Still TBD, if the shutterless run #27 on May 9 will be included. * May 9/16 EIT Shutterless #27, EIT/SECCHI (TBD) b) Intercalibration activities Last Intercal 1: 11 October 2006 * Oct 30-Nov 3 ICAL01 (#7113), CDS/EIT, TBC 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 back in focus 5, best focus for full-disk observing. MDI will stay in focus 5 indefinitely and will not do high-res observations anytime soon. 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. EIT observations will probably cover 2006/11/08 18:45 - 11/09 02:20 UT. SUMER: See sections 1c and 2a. --> #SUMER - changes, comments? 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. 3. Any other business * Next SPWG: Dec 01 (primary) or Nov 22 after the daily meeting. December 01 is fine with MDI. For others both are OK or no comments. 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.