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Rewriting the textbooks

Rewriting the textbooks. MOST science is doing that. Photometric performance. As good as – or better than – ever. Photometric precision has been maintained or improved upon, due to:. excellent pointing (better than ± 1 arcsec) optimised on-board image stacking

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Rewriting the textbooks

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  1. Rewriting the textbooks MOST science is doing that

  2. Photometric performance As good as – or better than – ever Photometric precisionhas been maintained or improved upon, due to: • excellent pointing (better than ± 1 arcsec) • optimised on-board image stacking • continuing refinements to the Fabry and Direct Imaging data reduction experience

  3. January – August 2010

  4. January – August 2010

  5. Operations Slightly reduced time on science targets • WASP-12 and NASA GO T Tauri field came within • 10° of illuminated Earth and lost pointing lock • Problems with acquisition of Z CMa • as a switch target ‘anchor’ for HD 80606 • False sun sensor readings part of the cause • For last 6 days of ρ Pup (& HD 57682)campaign • both stars eclipsed for part of each MOST orbit • Pointing on Regulus interrupted by SEU (Single • Event Upset) corruption of ACS (not a crash)

  6. Operations Modifications to ACS software • “refquality” used to diagnose guide star problem • with AD Leo, W Crv, (40 Ser), HR 5999, ε Oph • A new statistic now gathered for the number • of lit pixels per guide star • Smaller values of the ADU counts on the lit pixels • could lead to a poorer guide star centroid calculation • Extra lit pixels would cause inaccurate guide star • centroid value • ACS now evaluates “centroid radius” as one • possible cause of anomalous guide star jitter

  7. 6¾, going on 7 over 65 in microsat years “Advanced old age. in 2003 MOST years”

  8. 6¾, going on 7 8 track vs. iPod “Over the hill?”. in CoRoT and Kepler years” ? Satellites ‘R’ Us 21 APR 2010

  9. Spacebased photometry MOST has been joined by CoRoTand Kepler and will be joined soon by BRITE Constellation on this scientific frontier MOST microsat CoRoT smallsat BRITE nanosat 54 kg 630 kg 6 kg http://www.univie.ac.at/ brite-constellation/main5.html not to scale

  10. CoRoT Convection, Rotation and. planetary Transits. http://smsc.cnes.fr/COROT

  11. CoRoT CVZ

  12. MOST CVZ Continuous observations

  13. Kepler kepler.nasa.gov

  14. Kepler CVZ

  15. MOST CVZ 2 months Kepler 3½ years + ? CoRoT CoRoT 5 months 5 months

  16. Publications • 6 refereed scientific papers • by MOST Team and collaborators • published or in press since last Ops Review • 61 refereed papers in total

  17. Publications • 6 refereed scientific papers • by MOST Team and collaborators • published or in press since last Ops Review • 61 refereed papers in total • 4papers currently being refereed • at least 3 manuscripts should be ready for submission within the next month

  18. Flares, spots and rotation Spectroscopic binary II Pegasi

  19. Flares, spots and rotation Eleven flares observed

  20. Flares, spots and rotation Mean flare profile

  21. Flares, spots and rotation Mean flare profileDifferential rotation

  22. Flares, spots and rotation Mean flare profileDifferential rotation

  23. Flares, spots and rotation • Results of analysis of the almost-continuous, one-month-long MOST photometry of the active binary system II Pegasi • Eleven flares were observed (one lasting about 24 hr and • six moderately long ones, lasting typically 5 to 10 hr) • The primary eclipse of the visible star by its companion • (probably an M dwarf) was not detected, which sets an • upper limit on the orbital inclination of the systemi < 76° • From our analysis of the dark-spot modulated light curve, • and the absence of internal variability of spots during the • MOST observations, we obtain an estimate of the • differential rotation parameterk = 0.0245 (+ 0.0155 −0.0020)

  24. Publications • 6 refereed scientific papers • by MOST Team and collaborators • published or in press since last Ops Review • 61 refereed papers in total • 4papers currently being refereed • at least 3 manuscripts should be ready for submission within the next month • 2010 CASCA meeting • 5 talks and 1 poster on MOST science

  25. MOST data use by others MOST Public Data Archive 2009 user statistics: 23,471 files downloaded (11.9 GB of data in total) 182 distinct IPs

  26. MOST data use by others MOST Public Data Archive 2009 user statistics: 23,471 files downloaded (11.9 GB of data in total) 182 distinct IPs Canada 33 USA 23 Brazil 8 India 4 Poland 4 UK 4 Austria 3 Germany 3 Hungary 3 Russia 3 France 2 Italy 2 Japan 2 Mexico 2 Taiwan 2 Australia 1 Belgium 1 Bosnia 1 Bulgaria 1 China 1 Croatia 1 Czech Republic 1 Indonesia 1 Israel 1 Philippines 1 Romania 1 Slovenia 1 South Africa 1 Spain 1 Sweden 1 TOTAL 113

  27. MOST data archiving

  28. NASA GO Cycle 2 • We have allocated 56 days of time to 4 of the 5 top-ranked proposals

  29. NASA GO Cycle 2

  30. NASA GO Cycle 2

  31. Status of MOST James Wells

  32. How Are We Doing? On June 30th, MOST will enter its 8th year of operations! You Are Here (11.9 AUs from the Sun)

  33. Several Target Campaigns, Including the Conclusion of the First Round of NASA GO Targets • Next round of NASA GO observations starts this Fall

  34. Additional Targets From HARPS • Observed four exo-planet target stars over 14 ten-hour periods, centered on expected transit times • On-going campaign - still more to be observed

  35. MOST Ground Stations Repairs were done on IFA Ground Station, and checkouts done at UTIAS and UBC Currently, all 3 stations are running well, though now and then get degraded passes at UBC UTIAS IFA UBC

  36. Much Calmer 6-Months, In Terms of Radiation Induced Crashes • 4 software crashes likely due to radiation between 12/1/2009 and 6/1/2010 (6 months) • 13 crashes during the previous 6-month period SAA

  37. Long Term Power Situation for MOST • Power generation drops below consumption at the beginning of 2015 (outside eclipse times)

  38. Monitoring Eclipse Season in 2011 / 2012 • Can trade-off between two variables to keep the battery charged: • Sun angle to main panel (ie. target selection) • Total transmission time • Will depend on duration of the eclipse for the given day • Need a new monitoring system: • Calculate power generation from Snapshot panel voltages and currents • Alarm if it below what is required for the eclipse duration of the day • Either need to reduce transmission time or switch to another target (can plan ahead to try to avoid unnecessary target switches)

  39. Looking Ahead to Power Situation by 2013 Will need to change power setup on MOST “Engineering” anchor targets for part of an orbit Main panel pointed more directly at sun Peak Power Trackers Have yet to be turned on Change to CCD clocking? Might save some power

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