GCN Test Coordinates

say stuff here.

TABLE 1: Missions with Test Position Notices

MISSION	Type Num	PERODIC DISRTIBUTIONS	STILL AVAILABLE?
BATSE	2	3.33 hr	yes
HETE	44	3.50 hr	yes
Swift-BAT	82	3.55 hr	yes
INTEGRAL	51-55	6.00 hr	yes
AGILE	109	3.56 hr	yes
Fermi-GBM	119	3.57 hr	yes
Fermi-LAT	124	3.57 hr	yes

Original Test Notices:

Sites can elect to receive (by their normal distribution method) Test Coordinate Notices (type=2). These are identical in format and content to the normal BATSE-derived GRB Notices (types=1,11,22,24), except they are generated by the GCN program (i.e. they do not originate from any GRB detector instrument). They are chosen from a predefined list (see the table below) to more-or-less uniformly sample the sky. The program cycles through the list, sending a different location every 3.3 hours. Sites can elect to receive (or not) these type=2 Test Notices on a site-by-site basis.
These are still available even though the CGRO-BATSE mission is gone.

Index      RA    Dec   (J2000)
  1       0.0,  35.0
  2      36.0,  35.0
  3      72.0,  35.0
  4     108.0,  35.0
  5     144.0,  35.0
  6     180.0,  35.0
  7     216.0,  35.0
  8     252.0,  35.0
  9     288.0,  35.0
 10     324.0,  35.0
 11       0.0, -35.0
 12      36.0, -35.0
 13      72.0, -35.0
 14     108.0, -35.0
 15     144.0, -35.0
 16     180.0, -35.0
 17     216.0, -35.0
 18     252.0, -35.0
 19     288.0, -35.0
 20     324.0, -35.0

Bradford Test Notices: (No longer available)

As yet another example of how flexible the GCN system is in accomodating the needs of the follow-up observation community, GCN generates a separate stream of test coordinate locations (type=21) to the BRADFORD telescope. The location varies according to the month-of-year and the time-of-day is fixed.

HETE Test Notices:

Sites can elect to receive (by their normal distribution method) HETE Test Coordinate Notices (type=44). These are identical in format and content to the normal HETE-derived GRB Notices (types=40-43), except they are generated by the GCN program (i.e. they do not originate from any GRB detector instrument). They are chosen from a predefined list (the same table as the Original Test Notices above) to more-or-less uniformly sample the sky. The program cycles through the list, sending a different location every 3.50 hours. Sites can elect to receive (or not) these type=44 HETE_Test Notices on a site-by-site basis.

INTEGRAL Test Notices:

Sites can elect to receive (by their normal distribution method) INTEGRAL Test Coordinate Notices (types=51-55). The way the INTEGRAL Test notices work is somewhat different than the other mission-based test notices. The differences are: (a) the Test notices come from the INTEGRAL ground operations (not GCN internal), and (b) all 5 notice types have a "test" form (instead of a separate test-type). These are identical in format and content to the normal INTEGRAL Notices (types=51-55) except they have a flag bit set indicating they are a test-form and not the real-time burst-caused form. They values in the notices are choosen by the INTEGRAL Operations team. They come every 6 hours. Sites can elect to receive (or not) these INTEGRAL_Test Notices on a site-by-site basis.

Swift Test Notices:

Sites can elect to receive (by their normal distribution method) Swift Test Coordinate Notices (type=82). These are identical in format and content to the normal Swift_BAT_GRB_Position Notice (types=61), except they are generated by the GCN program (i.e. they do not originate from the Swift-BAT instrument). They are chosen from a predefined list (the same table as the Original Test Notices above) to more-or-less uniformly sample the sky. The program cycles through the list, sending a different location every 3.54 hours. Sites can elect to receive (or not) these type=82 Swift_Test Notices on a site-by-site basis.

AGILE Test Notices:

Ditto the description for the Swift Test Notices, except that these are Type=109.

Fermi Test Notices:

Ditto the description for the Swift Test Notices, except that these come in two forms GBM_test (type=119) and LAT_Test (type=124).

Pager Test Notices: (no longer available)

Pager sites can also elect to receive a test page notice at a specific time of day at some modulo-day occurance rate (e.g. 2:00pm local time every 3rd day). This allows the site to monitor their reception efficiency and aliveness if they so choose.