ASCA weekly

[nagase@astro.isas.ac.jp]

Dear ASCA users,

Please find below the ASCA observation schedule for the period of 
September 5-17, 1999. Next ASCA short-term schedule will be issued
in the last week of August.

We currently estimate that the re-entry of ASCA to the atmosphere
will occure in late 2000. We will be able to conduct ASCA observations 
till a few months before the re-entry. Below I attach an important 
announcement on the ASCA final operation plan after AO-7.

F. Nagase

-------------- IMPORTANT! --- IMPORTANT! --- IMPORTANT! ------------------
                  --------------------------
                  ASCA Final Operations Plan 
                  --------------------------

1. The current projection of the ASCA orbit predicts re-entry in late 2000.
The uncertainty is driven by the unpredictable strength of the solar maximum.

2. Astro-E will be launched in late January or early February 2000. Due to the
difficulty of operating ASCA and Astro-E with limited resources, it will be
preferred to make long look observations with ASCA of typically 7 to 14 days 
duration. In addition to the long look observations there will still be the 
possibility to make TOO observations, and also simultaneous cross-calibration 
observations with other satellites such as Astro-E, Chandra and XMM.

3. The current AO-7 round will end with the launch of Astro-E in late January 
2000, early Feb 2000. This will allow all the priority A and B targets to be 
observed, and also many priority C.

4. Due to the uncertainty in the end of life of ASCA and the long observation 
mode after Astro-E launch it is judged to be not worthwhile to have a full AO 
for the last year of operations.

5. In September 1999 there will be a call issued to the community for suggested 
observations to be made during the remaining period of the ASCA observations 
after the Astro-E launch. This call for long look observations will have an 
October 12, 1999 deadline.

6. The initial prioritization of observations will be made by the US and
Japanese communities. The lists will be brought to an Astro-E Japanese-US
merging committee meeting in November 1999. The final selection will be based 
on the feasibility and ease of operations, the science merit, proposed 
coordinated observations by other observatories and maintaining the existing 
balance of international participation.

7. All data from this long look period will be made public, as soon as it has 
been processed.

					1999, July 27
					H. Inoue, F. Nagase, N. White
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
A S C A     WEEKLY  OBSERVATION   PLAN
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
#22:  September 5 - 17, 1999		ver-1   (99/ 7/21)
(ISAS contact scientist: 	T. TAMURA	(ttamura@astro.isas.ac.jp)
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Date	MNV	Target 		Tag. 	Exp.	Observation	PI or 
	start	name 		Cat.	(ks)	Cat.  Pri./TC	 ( PPI/Co-PI)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
9/ 5	12:00	V1803+676	AGN	20	JPN	2/n	Y. Ogasaka

9/ 6	 2:20	Clump_2		SNR	100	JPN	2/n	H. Murakami

9/ 8	17:50	BSD 24-491	Bin.	30	JPN	2/n	F. Nagase

9/ 9	14:50	Mkn 1073	AGN	30	US	2/n	T. Heckman

9/10	 9:50	1RXS J170849 N1	Star	25	JPN	2/Y	M. Sugizaki

9/11	 6:00	PKS 1830-211 N1	AGN	10	JPN	2/Y	K. Mitsuda

9/11	12:30	G330.2+1.0	SNR	25	JUS	2/n	K. Torii

9/12	 7:30	G350.0-1.8 S1	SNR	14	JPN	2/n	M. Ozaki
					(AO-7 supplement)
9/12	15:40	G5.2-2.6	SNR	20	MUJ	2/n	J. Hughes
								/M. Sakano
9/13	 9:00	1E161348 N5	SNR	20	MUJ	1/n	E. Gotthelf
								/K. Torii
9/14	 1:00	RXJ 04493+0728	AGN	100	US	1/n	M. Elvis

9/16	14:50	PKS 1830-211 N2	AGN	10	JPN	2/Y	K. Mitsuda

9/17	 3:10	1RXS J170849 N2	Star	25	JPN	2/Y	M. Sugizaki
							
(9/17	17:50  MNV to next target)
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(Note) Obs. Cat. JPN: Japan time, US: US time, JUS: Japan-US Collaboration, 
USJ: US-Japan Collaboration,  MJU: Merged Japan-US (PPI=Japan), 
MUJ: Merged US-Japan (PPI=US),  ESJ: ESA-Japan Program, 
MOT: Observatory Time (Calibration, maintenance), 
and TOO: Target of Opportunity