Observation Planning and Science Operations Details
+ Link to Monthly Schedule
+ Link to Weekly Schedule
+ Link to Daily Schedule
+ Link to Minutes from Monthly Meetings
Science operations planning will follow the Yohkoh model and will be guided through a series of
meetings that will occur on a monthly, weekly, and daily schedule. Planning will be accomplished
by the Hinode team which will consist of JAXA and NASA program managers, the three instrument
teams and their collaborators, and the four project sciencts (two from Japan and one each from the
United States and the United Kingdom -- see the CONTACTS page). The
Hinode team will coordinate the observing plans of the three instruments and will establish the
target (pointing coordinates of an area of interest on the Sun). In addition, the team will decide
how to allocate memory in the data recorder and will cooperate with other space and ground-based
observatories for coordinated observing campaigns.
Eclipse Seasons
Since Hinode is in a Sun-synchronous polar orbit, the spacecraft will experience eclipse seasons; i.e., for a few months around the time of the summer solstice, the Sun will be occulted by the Earth for a maximum of 20 minutes out of a 98-minute-orbit. The SOT may halt operations during this period, due to thermal instability of the primary mirror. However, if orbit conditions are acceptable, the SOT may still be operated, but with degraded performance. For more information, click here.
Coordinating Observations
Observation sequences are sent to the spacecraft during the evening passes in Japan and cover a 24 hour interval.
Detailed planning for each day's observations starts approximately 36 hours before the observation sequences are sent to the spacecraft.
In extreme cases it is possible to make minor adjustments to the target position or sequences as little as 8 hours before the observation sequences are sent to the spacecraft.
The Science Schedule Coordinator (SSC)
The SSCs are senior scientists, two from each instrument team. One SSC will be Japanese and the other from either the US or Europe. These individuals will coordinate the long-term (monthly) observation schedule.
To maximize the scientific return, the Hinode team will cooperate with other space- and ground-based observatories.
The SSCs will be the contacts for external proposals and they will either act as a proposal consultant or will assign a member from their instrument team to act as a proposal consultant.
SSCs will present external proposals at the monthly meeting and will notify external proposers if and when their observations will be made. The SSCs will also supply Chief Observer contact information, since this individual will be responsible for implementing observations.
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